Al On The Canal Life aboard Buggerlugs

January News Letter

2012-01-26T21:03:00.000Z

Hi Everyone

This time of year the canal is not a very exciting place even the dog walkers are taking their dogs belongings home with them which leaves me no one to shout at I could always rely on them for a good old barny. Last week we had a little excitement as I assisted in craning two boats in and one out I know that sounds quite boring but believe me it was the high light of my week. The one we craned out I power sprayed it suffered from neglect over the winter and sank its only a 14ft sailing dinghy so nothing got ruined we will replace all the wood fittings and give it a good coat of paint be as good as new. Then I start on Buggerlugs I have to have her ready by April as we are off again and have lots to do and places to go and Peo;e to see. I intend putting all medoica matters on ho;d until September.

I am quite busy with the paintings though the weather is playing hell with that getting the paint to harden off is a nightmare as one day is dry the next wet and the next damp I have started using the engine room as a drying room I know I hear you “Always bloody moaning” Noreen is still working in the cafe, she loves it, work is what she lives for and she loves being with customers when we had the business she use to keep me well away from customers ( people who know us know why????.)

At last I am getting some hospital appointments in I have had Mri scans, Electric probes making muscles jump, x-rays, all sorts of tests But I think they have now decided that that my cervical spine was damaged in the fall it means that when a signal leaves my so called brain it does not always arrive at its intended destination at times it causes some hilarity and embarrassment but on the whole its not life threatening I wake up every morning, I can dress myself and fish what else does a man want. I have a lot to thank God for.

I am on the hunt for either a Otter or a Mink what ever it is, There are definite signs about and it’s causing hell with the fishing I will have to take care what I do if its a mink then I am afraid its got to go if its an Otter then the environment will have to be informed and a party held in its honour.

February I have dedicated to catching up with friends so all expect a visit, we have Maurine coming on board for a few days we have a do with Marjorie’s and at the same time catch up with Silvia and Alan at the same time. Don’t worry plenty of time for the rest of you. We are still open for visitors.

God Bless you All

Big Al

Craning In

2012-01-26T20:44:00.000Z

CHRISTMAS MERCHANDISING

2011-12-18T20:42:00.000Z

I just thought as I was running out of time for Christmas. So I thought I would have a good old Christmas Rant
This year its about shopping . Today I was talking to Matthew he complained about how everything has gone up in price, but you get nothing extra except commercial wrapping that you do not want.
Here is a test try buying Mince pies without fancy Christmas wrapping that must put a penny on every pie
The super market shelves are full of cream but You cannot buy cream without it having rum or some other festive ingredient added . And where has all the normal food gone all the shelves are full of Christmas crap everything to con you to part with hard earned cash . I find it insulting to my intelligence to read some of the ads. Plenty of Turkey advertised as the best Turkey for Christmas So! what happens to it the rest of the year? believe me Turkey is turkey whether you have it Christmas, Easter , Thanks Giving it matters not its the way its cooked that matters . I saw a washing Machine which said it uses Hydrothermal Technology
Right lets translate Hydro Greek for Water , Thermal again Greek for To Heat so the term Hydrothermal Technology ( I shall not insult you with the term for technology) but all it means is To heat Water, now I’m no technologist but I do know its very difficult to wash clothes without hot water ?? Would that encourage you to buy it . Or the Collins version is : of hot water affecting Earth's crust: relating to, or produced by, the action of extremely hot water on the Earth's crust what has that to do with Wash day???????
And why are people leaving the supermarket with trolleys ready to sit out a siege . Noreen has to restrain me from shouting (For Gods sake they are only shut for two days) No matter how many come for Christmas you can’t possibly use that much food. And Now nearly every garage sells food 24/7 so why? .I want to know how families of 10 managed before supermarkets, fridges and freezers. I am not going to start (When I was a lad ) I realise we are in a different era But come on supermarkets and Merchandisers must think we are all stupid
Here are some of my stupid ads Look out for them and have a laugh non would entice me to buy or even look at twice:
Here are some adverts that really annoy me :

1. A Perfumed spray that lasts ninety days, which they claim is; one full season, However there are four seasons in a year 4x90 is 360 so what happens to the other 5 Days???? Of a normal year
2. Why would I want to know how many machines can fly? when advertising an airline I want to know what type of aircraft they fly. I do not want to fly by Lawn Mower, Washing Machine, or vacuum cleaner.
3. Now there is one that depicts a dancing bullock; dancing I may say to some bloody awful music which in its entirety looks like its covered in Chocolate
However to my great dismay its an ad for Gravy. What has a dancing Bullock looking as though is covered in chocolate to do with gravy

Except the spurious connection between the bullock and Beef
I have just spent two days trying to Score a joint of pork without using my hands, I failed.
But Morrison’s insist that their pork is only scored by hand . I can now assure everyone that there is NO other way ?????? So therefore no need to mention it.

I am not a Humbug and really love Christmas I just hate what the commercial world are doing to it
Lets bring back the excitement, the love , the Wonder of Giving and the sharing .

God Bless

Big Al

Season Greatings

2011-12-17T21:13:00.000Z

Hi Everyone

Its that time of year when I wish everyone a

Merry Xmas and a Happy new year

In the past week I have bumped into some old friends. Monday I was at a IWA meeting I went to a talk on the river Weaver by Colin Edmondson if you ever get a chance to hear him talk about the Weaver go along he was so enthusiastic it was great There I met Jim & Helen NB Val Jim and Helen assisted Noreen after I took my ride in the air Ambulance. It was great to catch up and even make plans for next season. Tues I met and old comrade who I haven't seen since we were on Duty in Kenya. Bob and Norma stayed overnight on a flying visit between Canada and Northern Irland. That was a great night we had an awful lot to catch up on.. Thur was dinner with Kath, Di John and John that's about it
Its been a great week for catching up
The year has been a strange on I hope that 2012 will lead us to calmer waters and pleasant cruising. 2011 has taught me a lot about myself and my friends and Family who have supported me through what has been a very interesting few months. I still cannot believe just how fortunate I am to have such wonderful people around me. Of course all those who I have not mentioned and that is all of you who read my ramblings who also also have given me great comfort I thank you all. Christmas is a time to enjoy your Family and Friends I for one will certainly enjoy all mine.
The marina has given up the fight with the ever increasing winter and has now a thin film of decorative Ice looking at my weather forecast by Thurs it should be all gone. But I have said it before I never worry about anything I cannot change.

I now intend to have a great Christmas and enjoy something 6 months ago I thought I would never see again
God Bless
Big Al

My Poor Barometer

2011-11-30T23:06:00.000Z

I know that being British we are naturally at one with the weather. However after the last two weeks I am giving up with it, My Barometer has spun off its dial and how come we can have extra warm off season weather one day and typhoons the next. I use to pride myself on my knowledge of the weather. When I took my Glider pilots licence I even sat an exam on weather, but this lot has me completely Flummoxed

In the past week the boat has taken a right old bashing, yesterday quite early we took Buggerlugs for a pump out, Early as I take the opinion that the wind gets worse as the sun heats up the land. So before the wind really got started we were off. Noreen was on the bow dressed in all her weather safety gear looking like the man on a packet of fisherman's Friends, I was on the tiller when I heard her shout "turn her into the wind helmsman, drop the foresail, get ready with the anchor (I love old Naval Films) but honest it was like rounding the horn, all we needed was Capt Ahab on this whaler Piquod cutting across our bow shouting “their she blows” the rest of the marina must have been waiting for some fool to test the wind and the immobility of a 60ft craft (yes I was it) I have just done a quick calculation 60ft boat minus 7ft of cratch and 3ft of trad stern that leaves 50ft x 5ft of boat equating to 250sqft of sail to assist in sending the boat where you don't want it to go. Anyway because they saw that I managed to get there and back to my mooring without hitting anyone. Well actually We let the wind take us back I could have cut the engine. The upshot of all this was I finished up assisting another three boats across before the wind got really angry, then even polling was not an option, So every one now has been pumped out and filled with fuel lets hope in two weeks time the gales have subsided so we can do it all over again. Today we had four hours of torrential rain and 70mph winds I have sent a video of the best part of the storm. Today the waves were so high they were washing water over the stern, broadside on water was over the gunnels’ and washing the windows. I believe that's what they call the Joys of Boating one thing about this boating lark is you never get bored

As we are now in Advent I am starting to get the excited about Christmas and jobs we have to do, by we that I mean me and my boss (Noreen) are doing the Christmas fate on Saturday at least I have not been volunteered for Santa just the food I would rather clean gutters than do Santa I am looking at solar Christmas lights for my new garden we are even decorating the outside of Buggerlugs I don’t normally like too many Christmas decorations but hey lets go for it. Lets celebrate.

All of you keep well

Big Al

Settling down for winter

2011-11-13T20:43:00.000Z

Settling down Mind and Boddy

Today being Remembrance Sunday I was on parade its the day that brings many memories not only remembering my comrades, but many other memories come to the fore.

Its that time of year, for me its a very melancholy time of, We now put the summer behind us the autumn with its wonderful colours has almost gone and left us with mere memories and past us on to winter I know its not officially winter yet but I have scraped my car of ice twice this week, slipped on frosty leaves, though the other morning we were treated to a beautiful mist rising off the marina, I know you can get Misty mornings in the summer but not with the mist smelling of cordite mixed with bon fire smoke it always reminds me of a live firing exercise in the army.
Autumn began with a subtle change in the light, with skies a deeper blue, and nights that suddenly become clear and chilled. The rustle of leaves under your feet, For me the Autumn comes to a halt with the first frost, the flocks of migrating birds becoming much larger and now they seem to have an urgency about them , the harvesting of the of the last of the years crops is in, The time of year when settling down is in order when travelling is done,. Time now to remember the Spring, Summer and Autumn just gone. Also for me its a time to remember absent friends , not to be too Maudling but this time of year or more precisely the first two weeks of November I put aside to remember; as most people know I never look behind only forward except for these two weeks, In these two weeks we celebrate All souls day and Remembrance Day. Both of which give me the opportunity to pay my respects, and remember those who did not share my luck, But hey what a year ???? I am still available for tips on Blacking your boat or tips on health and safety?????

Now most of nature is starting bedding down for winter which is only just weeks away, I always feel I should be doing the same and getting myself bedded down.

This winter though I intend to stay ahead of the game Next week I shall concentrate on the boat engine and car engine getting them ready for what ever winter throws at us I am not looking at forecasts if it happens it happens there is nothing I can do about that except be prepared, One fantastic thing about the boat as long as you are prepared you can sit out any winter, I know continuous cruising is different but even that can be

“fun” at times ?? As long as you are prepared So my tip for the day is “be a good scout and Be Prepared)

Noreen’s brother Bob and his wife Norma are coming from Canada for a visit at the beginning of December

Only for a day on the boat ,so we have lots of vacancies in the social calendar this time of year we are always short of visitors so if you want a visit just give me a call we would love to see you .

Sorry no pics you must be fed up of the sight of me

God Bless

Big Al

2011-10-31T21:59:00.001Z

Hi Everyone

Very sorry to report that very little is happening on board Buggerlugs, I have been attempting to winterise her I have managed most of it however it has been a struggle I thought on leaving hospital IO would just carry on as before (stupid idea) but I have just soldiered on things take a bit longer but hey nothing else to do. Noreen is enjoying her two days a week in the cafe its gets her from under my feet and I can do all those man jobs?? done whilst she is away. I have had a few painting jobs on the go and finding it a lot easier now we have a garden lots of room for spraying and even more room for storing and drying.
I have not wrote the blog for a few weeks because I have been to four funerals all of which were great friends, these Departure's have left me doing a lot of thinking and wondering what could have been. That may sound very macabre but hey I am still here and I must not feel guilty. I suppose At my stage in life I am going to get periods like this.
Buggerlugs is still playing host to many family and friends and continuing hosting many enjoyable evenings with good wine good food good port and most of all good friends now that is how we should live our life's forget about the recession riots and demos surround yourself with good friends and good food and sod the rest of the mad world. Concentrate on what is really important
As these pics show we have been enjoying the last days of Autumn
God Bless
Big Al

Visitors can always get rest and recuperation

Or if its our Kieth just fishing will do

Thomas and Nunu (gran) Enjoying the last gorgeous

days of Autumn on Southport sands

I am

Thde return of Buggerlugs

2011-09-21T20:42:00.001+01:00

Hi everyone

Remember when I was still at the recovery stage in Birmingham, poor old Bugerlugs had to be brought back to Rufford. As I was in no condition for doing nay sort of organising. So Noreen set too and put out an SOS to all our friends, within a day John Bamber came up trumps with a crew, two of his friends John and Kath who have their own boat a 47 footer volunteered, as they were a friend of a friend and we had no other knowledge of them than that it was for me a leap of faith but at the time God was being so good to me. and I thought how dificult can it be ?????
That’s the background to the story, John has been kind enough to send me a Journal of the trip which I found informative, Funny and interesting. It just shows everyone what type of people we have on the canal Kind, Resilient, Helpful Caring, and will do anything to help a follow boater
I will let Johns words tell the story:
God Bless you Both. We now have two more very good freinds

BRINGING BACK BUGGERLUGS

Or, Three People In A Boat [Two women, one man, and no dog]

With the later addition of one more man but still no dog

[With apologies to Jerome K. Jerome]

Monday 11th. July 2011 Kings Norton.

As I stood on the back deck of Buggerlugs on the Stratford Canal my first thought was that she was considerably bigger than our modest 47
’ Orion. It felt a bit like standing on the bridge of the Ark Royal [remember her back in the days when we had a navy?] My second thought was that she was pointing south east when we needed to be heading north west. This, swiftly followed by the thought that this was the narrowest stretch of canal I had seen since last year’s trip to Llangollen. I could all but touch the other bank . My last thought was that I don’t normally do so much thinking, especially on a Monday morning – must have been the stress. But never mind, a friendly local assured me that the nearby winding hole would accommodate us with ease. After what seemed a long time sailing we were about to find out.

Q. What do you get when you try to turn a 60’ boat with a deep draught in a 65’ winding hole that consists mainly of mud?

A. High blood pressure and possibly brown trousers.

Some time later we extricated ourselves from our predicament ,covered in mud if not glory. In our defence I still feel that the operation might have gone more smoothly had not the aforementioned local preceded us before mooring in the approach to the turning. But at least we were now pointing in the right direction and several hours after setting out we arrived back at the boatyard ready to begin our journey home.

All went well at first, and just as I was beginning to relax into sailing a strange boat [sorry Alan I don’t mean that Buggerlugs is strange, just strange to me, and every boat has it’s own little foibles] we came upon a junction of the Stratford Canal [us] and the Worcester-Birmingham Canal [temporarily the enemy]. Turning a 60’ boat around a 90 degree junction which is spanned by a bridge only inches wider than the boat is no easy test. Even so it is one which we passed comfortably if not very quickly. Thereabouts boating is obviously a spectator sport judging by the hordes assembled on the banking, willing our failure and baying for blood. If the the state of the brickwork on the bridge was anything to go by they had had more rewarding days, but, give them their due, despite their obvious disappointment they magnanimously applauded our success. Even the world-weary looking Boxer dog appeared vaguely impressed . And so,without further mishap, to Birmingham and our first night aboard.

After an early start Tuesday saw us arrive in Wolverhampton after an incident free trip through some fairly nondescript scenery. We took on water and decided that rather than cross the canal to the secure moorings we would stay where we were . Mooring was supposedly restricted to one hour but we reasoned that at that time of day there was room enough for any more arrivals. It was as we were tying up that Kathleen received the dreadful news that her brother, David, had been diagnosed as being terminally ill. Despite her worries Kathleen bravely decided to continue the journey, a decision urged by David himself. David helped me many times when I was fitting out our own boat and we both owe him a great debt. Last year he accompanied us on a trip to Llangollen and we had all been looking forward to another outing this year. Sadly this will now never happen and we will miss him a great deal.

During the course of the evening a hire boat full of young lads turned up and went onto the secure moorings. Later they crossed back to our side in order to go out on the town. They returned from the fleshpots at around four o’clock the following morning at which time they proceeded to move their boat back over the canal. Noreen and Kathleen were incensed: I slept on.

Wednesday was a very early start in order to tackle the Wolverhampton Flight. Despite requests from the two ladies I declined to sound the horn as we passed the hire boat where, not surprisingly, there was no sign of life. I did, however give it a bit of a nudge as we went by. The decision to set out early was vindicated as, with little other traffic, we cleared the flight in an amazing two and a half hours. This due entirely to the sterling efforts of our world class locking crew Noreen and Kathleen. Actually it would have been completed in that time, but at the penultimate lock the top gate obstinately refused to close having been left open for us by a boat ascending. We tried everything: bouncing on the balance beam; poking round the cill with the pole; simple brute force etc. But all to no avail. Whilst we were waiting for B.W. to appear a smart arse from a boat below came to sort us out. Despite being told that the gate was immoveable he would have a go. All he did was put one finger on the beam and the blasted thing closed. Obviously our efforts had finally dislodged something from the cill, but he just swaggered off looking smug. A face one would never tire of slapping.

Our good progress continued in increasingly attractive countryside and by early evening we arrived at Norbury Junction where we moored for the night. The only hiccup had been at Autherley Junction where, it seemed, all the prats on the cut had foregathered with the sole intention of denying us access to the Shroppie. A right angled turn to the right immediately followed by a right angled turn to the left into the narrowest of stop locks is difficult at the best of times without the added complications of idiots straying all over the canal, and, even worse, people trying to jump the queue. But with commendable forbearance and patience from Noreen and Kathleen and much effing and jeffing from me Buggerlugs prevailed.

Thursday began peacefully enough but our enjoyment of the beautiful Shropshire countryside was soon to be spoiled by the numpty in front who insisted on passing through Woodseaves Cutting at about one m.p.h. This part is so narrow as to be impossible in places for two boats to pass one another. Numpty was fine. When he saw a boat coming he could pick his spot, leaving us to flounder in his wake. More by good luck than good management we managed to avoid three oncoming boats as well as an overgrown and irregular bankside. Surely it’s not difficult to work out that the faster you pass through such places the less likely you are to encounter oncoming boats. What should have been an enjoyable sail through a spectacular gorge-like cutting was ruined by an inconsiderate boater.

On reaching Tyrley Lock I was drawn to vent my spleen yet again. [what do you mean grumpy old git?] Two women were parked up on a water point washing their boat. Not only were they monopolising a water point and wasting B.W. water, but they were also obstructing the entrance to the lock. However, here our luck changed. By some miracle, which only a boater could fully appreciate, as we approached the lock the top gate opened, a boat came out and we were in. Believe it or not this was repeated at every one of the next fourteen locks. Good fortune followed us all the way to Audlem and after twenty five locks only two had been set against us – the boater’s equivalent of winning the lottery - and one where our water was stolen by a couple, who coincidentally, like Katheen and myself, come from Westhoughton . Course it was Kathleen who discovered this. I was not disposed to speak to someone who was prepared to stoop so low.

But pride comes before a fall and just as I began to think this boating lark a piece of cake, [more of cake later], just as I thought it was safe to be in the water, I met my nemesis - The Shroppie Fly. No, not some monstrous insect that destroys narrow boats before devouring their crew, but a mere public house, the grounds of which housed the B.W. waterpoint.On a beautiful summer’s day the garden was full, and let’s face it everyone’s a critic. As I tried to pull into the water point ,which is a tight fit, Buggerlugs , for the first and only time in the entire trip, decided to misbehave. [Nothing to do with the driver – honest!]. Whilst the front end was snugly in the right place the back end stubbornly refused to move from mid canal. After trying every manoeuvre conceivable I was forced to throw a stern rope to be dragged shamefacedly in. Filled with water we dropped to the next but one pound where we found good moorings . After a long day in the sun I could have killed for a pint, but I am ashamed to admit that I lacked the bottle [and therefore the pint] to renew acquaintance with my erstwhile audience.

Returning to the subject of cakes it would be remiss of me not to mention Noreen’s talent for baking. So good is this, and so generous is she with the results, that by the end of the trip I was struggling to get through the hatch. When you are standing despondently on deck with the rain pouring down your neck there can be few more heartening sights than the appearance of a tray loaded with tea, flapjacks, gingerbreads, shortbreads, chocolate cake etc.

Friday was a longish day – the Middlewich Branch seems to get longer every time we do it – and quietish - until a motley crew of hire boaters, already drunk by mid afternoon, were foolish enough to cross swords with Noreen whilst acting the rubber pig at a lock. Only one winner there then! Arriving in Middlewich by tea time Noreen and Kathleen disappeared to Tesco whilst I retired to the Cheshire Cheese. Well, come on, surely you don’t begrudge me a couple of pints after being trapped in a tin can with two women for the best part of a week! But all too soon, and laden with shopping, they returned and dragged me out of the pub.

After long hard days Saturday proved to be a bit of a stroll. Our strategy of an early start to avoid oncoming boats at the tricky junction with the Trent and Mersey at Wardle Lock proved successful as we did not encounter another boat for several locks. Then a short trip to Anderton which we reached by lunchtime despite stops for breakfast, and later for water and showers. Here we stayed as we were due to pick up an extra crew member in the shape of John Bamber who duly arrived, bringing with him one huge kit bag [which for the next four days did it’s best to deny everyone access to the bathroom] and a load of weather – all of it bad. For the rest of the trip we were to be permanently wet.

Sunday proved to be something of a marathon. Seven hours of torrential rain, the only dry bits being in the tunnels, left me and John soaked to the skin. Whilst we waited our time to enter Preston Brook we witnessed what must have been a record number of boats exiting the tunnel. In fact there were so many that they were queued from Dutton stop lock to the mouth of the tunnel. This was making it difficult for boats from our side to enter : we were unable to do so because of the idiot who moored straight opposite us, refusing to pull forward despite having room to do so. They say that no man is a prophet in his own land and it was certainly true that Noreen was not a prophet on her own boat. In trying to reduce the queue she advised anyone who would listen [i.e. nobody] to leave the lock open until they had all passed through. Surely they didn’t’t think they would drain the entire contents of the Bridgewater into the T & M. The difference in water level at the lock must be all of two inches. But by now we had managed to squeeze into the tunnel and we were back on our way, so who cares? Actually it was the angry boater somewhere around Stockton Heath, to whom I must apologise. Yes we were going too fast, my only excuse the weather. I couldn’ make out quite what you were shouting but I can assure you that we did not have an anchor on board.

In Lymm I introduced John to the Bulls Head and a great local character called Brian. We rarely visit Lymm without taking a pint there. Always Brian seems to be there and always he seems to be several pints in front of me. He has spent much of his working life on the canals and has a fund of great tales to tell. Without Brian and his like the cut would truly be a poorer place. It was here also that John, a retired policeman, became reacquainted with an old boss, former G.M.P. Deputy Chief Constable John Stalker. Now there is a man who really must have some tales to tell!

On Monday morning we were faced with the problem of where to stay that night. The obvious answer was Leigh but we wanted to get further if possible. A phone call to B.W. revealed that Plank Lane swing bridge was open until 18.00 hours and so we decided that a bit of a dash was in order. However that was no excuse for John attempting to get Buggerlugs to climb a tree. Particularly as I was standing on the gunnels at the time. This was the test of a long standing friendship as I flattened my upper body against the roof whilst praying for soft foliage. Fortunately I emerged unscathed at the other end and so we are still friends, though I couldn’t’t help wondering whether that guy hadn’t been right about an anchor on board after all. At Boothstown we stopped for water, diesel and a pump out. We managed the pump out – one out of three isn’t that bad. Dave had run out of diesel after a hectic weekend due to the anniversary celebrations for the Bridgewater Canal [250 years], and we aborted the taking on of water in order to make Plank Lane on time. Opinion amongst the onlookers was that we would not make it, but Dave and I were more optimistic. I also learned from him that his mother had been taken into hospital following a heart attack. We were all saddened by this news and wished Muriel a full recovery.

When we arrived at the marina it was full and so I had to moor alongside another boat, which, coincidentally, also came from Fettlers Wharf. On seeing us the owners asked after Alan and informed us that they had been following our progress on his blog. It’s strange, but wherever you go the name Buggerlugs draws attention, a smile or two and usually some wry comment – the best one I heard was from the scouser at Middlewich: “me mam used to call me that just before she gave me a slap”.

We left the marina at a little after 16.00 and ,as a normally sedate driver, I am embarrassed to remember the wash we left behind us. In justification it did pay benefits and we made the swing bridge in good time before mooring at Dover Lock . There we were joined for the evening by Alan Hall who lives nearby and who, very generously, had driven us down to Birmingham the previous Monday and would later drive us home from Rufford. We met in the pub but did not linger. It isn’t the most hospitable of canal side watering holes. I have often sailed by in the past and will continue to do so in the future.

Tuesday morning saw us through Wigan with Noreen and Kathleen walking from Poolstock Locks right through to Crooke village. Kathleen never likes those high bankings in Wigan and Noreen seemed to be of the same mind. They can be problematic, especially in the wet which it most certainly was. John had been helping at the locks, and was also walking the pounds, but at Wigan Pier he sneaked back on board while the other two were out of sight. Time not being a pressure we had the luxury of mooring up for lunch at Appley Bridge where Kathleen and I had left Orion the previous week. All was well with the exception of a missing centre line. To the cheapskate who took it thanks a lot. Try a chandlery next time. Rope’s cheap enough. That evening we moored by the Rufford Branch where Noreen very generously took us all out to dinner at the ship. There she proceeded to eat a fish which was almost as big as her and probably bigger than anything Alan manages to pull out of the canal.

And so on Wednesday morning the final leg of our journey, up the Rufford to Fettlers Wharf. A passage marked only by Kathleen’s unconventional method of leaving a boat to prepare a lock. Basically this involved a headlong dive from the gunnels followed by a forward roll across the towpath before nonchalantly resuming the vertical position whilst still maintaining a firm grasp on the windlass. If they could include it as an event in the 2012 Olympics Team G.B. would be certain of one gold medal.

The end of the journey was a somewhat sad occasion. Some nine days earlier Kathleen and I set out with some trepidation to share a confined space with a total stranger and now we were parting as firm friends. For Noreen it must have been even more difficult, having to entrust her boat and home to two people she had never met before. From the very start we seemed to hit it off together and in the whole of the trip there was not a cross word or difficult moment. Noreen even showed great forbearance during the first few painful hours whilst I struggled to come to terms with handling Buggerlugs. Noreen and Kathleen made a superb locking crew, all the more laudable when you consider the worries which each of them carried with them. All I had to do was to sit on the back and generally point north. A piece of cake [which was dispensed, by Noreen, at regular intervals].

Despite the circumstances it was in many ways an enjoyable experience and Kathleen and I are both pleased to have been of some assistance to two wonderful people who we now count as friends. It is good to see them back at home and we both hope that Alan’s remarkable recovery continues apace.

John Bamber and Alan Hall, though not boaters themselves, gave freely of their time and played no small part in the successful outcome of our venture. All in all it just goes to show that sometimes the best part of boating is not the boating itself but the people you meet along the way. But then before getting too carried away you remember all the tossers you would rather throttle. Never thought about that before: boating, a metaphor for life!

Its not all about boats

2011-09-11T20:58:00.000+01:00

A few days ago we went to Old Colwyn to visit a friend. As Noreen was driving (I am still not allowed to drive because of the accident (all I can say is they should have seen my driving before the accident,)Also if I am restricted from driving my car because of a head injury I wonder if I am allowed to skipper a boat????????

Anyway back to the original story Noreen decided to use the main A55 as I was a passenger I was able to let my mind wonder to when as a very young boy I am talking 1948 to 1964 we as a family use to go to Talacre between Rhyl and Prestatyn. I am not sure who but someone in the family owned a Bungalow in Talacre and everyone use to book their share through Nin (Granny) we always had two weeks but in that two weeks we would have Aunties Uncles cousins call in for a few days I remember it being great fun and never once did I hear a bad word about anyone and we never fell out or had a row ( Could it happen today) But the Bungalow had no electric so, No Telle, wee, game boy, or any other deception of enjoyment.
I can really recount those serene days with great love. I know at my age things in the past seem so peaceful but well you can never forget the good bits only the bad bits.
So that little trip to a few days ago to Wales prompted me to pull this out of the book I am writing. My family consisted of Mum Dad and three brothers. Dad was the first in the street to get a car and what a car if anyone can remember it was an old Austin 12 with runner boards.

Our Holidays
We’re off to Talacre that’s near Prestatyn North Wales

We’re off to escape the rain and force ten gales

Dads made a route card with toilet stops in red

Mams packed everything, not leaving the folding bed

Sandwiches, flask, comic, I-spy book on knee

we’re off on holiday mi Mam mi Dad mi brothers and me

How far now Dad? Altringham we just past

Not long, with the car loaded, we can’t go fast

How long now Dad Chester just gone by

We’ll stop for a picnic at Queensberry

We’re on Holiday mi Mam mi Dad mi brothers and me

Our kids been sick which is nothing new

Mam said it was the second brew

Dad mends a puncture and a radiator leak

four hours in traffic were starting to reek

The end is in sight past Connors Quay

Now we’re on holiday mi Mam mi Dad brothers and me

Our Holiday home comes into view

Keys under the mat, smells all fresh and new

Right you lot into line (Dads playing Army again)

With military precision we start the game

unpack car, make beds, stow food, get changed,

every year always the same, But

We’re on holiday mi Mam mi Dad mi brothers and me

First day out Mam doe’s us butties of ham and paste

with our lot there ‘s never any waist

we pack them in paper with pop and a flask

We Know where we’re going, no need to ask

The lighthouse, with a view of the sea

We’re on holiday mi Mam mi Dad mi brothers and me

Dad takes us fishing out at low tide

out with his sons, you can see the pride

Dad shows us worms, how to dig, were to look

setting lines and baiting the hook

Dad enjoys fishing in the sea

He’s on holiday with mi Mam mi brothers and me

Playing all day, cards at night

no worries at all no need to fight

fish and chips at night and sharing a bed

suns been hot and sent mi skin all red

I loved my holidays in Talacre by the sea

With mi Mam mi Dad mi brothers and me

Bank Holiday

2011-09-01T21:20:00.001+01:00

Hi everyone

What a lousy Bank Holiday; weather wise anyway€. I am glad we weren’t out on the cut.

To pass time I did a canal painting demonstration in the Marina Cafe, It takes the form a painting demonstration, talks on canal art and its origins. I even let the kids have a go. which is great I love to see parents panic when kids get paint on the brush and everywhere else??
However Monday was a wash out very few people about the weather here in Rufford was atrocious though I did pick up two commissions for door panels etc , As I said not many people about but the folk I did speak to were very nice and it was great to talk to folk about canal life especially those who have not experienced it or are wanting more info about it.

I love the naivety of some peoples conception about canal life; one lady asked how we did the washing ? did we use the canal water ? She was most indignant when I said we had a washing machine, fridge, freezer, vacuum cleaner and all other mod cons. Others who were contemplating buying a boat just want advice, and to pick your experiences. All of which I am only too willing to do. Especially about blacking in a dry dock and inspecting the hull in a rush???

The marina is now quite full its lovely to see all the boats returning most though are the non live aboards, so even though we have lots of boats in, the amount of people around the marina does not increase.

Today has been quite a different day we had an excursion to Wales to visit a friend who I have not seen since the accident that was great, walking along the front in Roseonsea near Llandudno we had lunch out and really enjoyed it I am back in society again and loving it

I have just sent back my driving licence to see if they will let me drive again apparently you have to inform DVLA if you have a brain or serious head injury and they decide if you can continue to drive, keep your fingers crossed for me because being driven is driving me mad as Noreen will tell you I am not a good passenger ?????

View down the full length of the marina at dusk now almost full

Hi Everyone

2011-08-21T21:03:00.000+01:00

Hi

I am writing this for the pure pleasure of my sister-in -law who is an antipodean living in a beautiful part of Australia , Mary complained that she is fed up of opening up the blog with a new picture expecting it to be a new blog only to find that it is still the same story from two weeks ago with new picture. I am not as busy as I use to be so not much to report, But here goes

Since the last blog things have started progress a lot faster that what we all thought possible I still have a few broken bones which I must say are taking their time to mend but the rest of me is just about fixed though pins and needles in my arms and fingers are becoming a right nuisance,

I am doing a canal painting demonstration either Thursday next week or bank holiday Monday here in the Boatmans Cabin Cafe on the marina it gives the customers a chance to see the painting craft first hand and to understand the significance and history of the art.

We had our grandson for two days last week its great he really loves the boat I know he is only 4 but he can start and stop the engine He has his own little boxes in the engine room he loves playing with nails screws bits of pipe magnets and all sorts of bits his imagination is endless. One of our friends brought their grandson same age 4 they play well together, isn’t it wonderful I gave them a piece of rope which they played with all day I taught them a few tricks with rope then it was their turn they tied me to a tree and then to my chair you pay hundreds of pounds at Toys r us and they play quite happily with a piece of old rope, I am considering going for a job at Early Learning my policy is let kids be kids (and ban all game boys and x boxes or what ever you call them.

Our Keith and Carol came for two nights Keith needed some fishing therapy after his turn on the operating table. I believe we caught every fish in the marina two great days.

A quote from Buggerlugs

To The World You Might Be One Person;
But To One Person You Might Be the World

Thomas working a lock with his own ShortWindlass

Go on put some beef into it

Time out

Before I am reported to the child welfare
Thomas is supervised by two adults at all times !!!!!!!!!!

Back on the Tiller

2011-08-15T20:46:00.000+01:00

Boaters Blogg

I know this will not impress a lot of people, but today I had my first turn on the tiller since that fateful day 21^st May When I decided to inspect my hull whilst passing it while falling into the dry dock.

The reason for this most epic of voyage’s all of 45 minutes was, I took Buggerlugs over for a pump out. On our new mooring we are sandwiched between two wide beam Eco Butties that allow me about 2ft space aft and stern so there is a lot of stern and bow movements to extradite me into clear water and then I have two complete 360º turns all these were completed without contact with any other craft. I was so relieved to complete these manoeuvres and to find that after such a long lay off that I still could??

As I said not very exciting but after the traumatic injuries; to me it was one of the best feelings, for those who can remember it was like passing your driving test.

PS
Eco Butty

A Eco Butty is a 60ft wide beam engineless house boat there are three on the marian fitted out to a very high standard, moored alongside there own private garden

Riots

2011-08-09T10:52:00.001+01:00

Sorry folks but I am going to go off on one

Riots, what, Who, Why.

What can the police do without the media running them into the ground. I had the horrible experience of trying to control riots in NI in the 70s its not easy no matter what you do its wrong unless you meet it full on with rubber bullets water cannon with dye and gas; in my situation in NI I said and still stand by it that there is no such thing as an innocent bystander.
The media are now saying its because they live in a deprived area absolute C----
I was brought up in east Manchester in the 50s we even had sweet rationing I didn’t form a gang of brain dead morons and raid the sweety shop. If I had I would have been severely dealt with by the police and the courts, and when they had finished with me my parents would have stated on me. I have just listened to a women on the radio saying she feels sorry for the rioters. As they are young people with no money, no jobs, bored, no good homes no hope, no proper schooling, What a load of rubbish! they are disrespectful, lawless, bone idle ignorant, morons. I have no solution because today’s society will not allow my remedy as it may interfere with their Human Rights. These people; though calling them people is an insult to the rest of us. These morons must live somewhere and with someone so what are the parents doing? Some solutions:
When caught and proven guilty gather all their dearest possessions and make the culprits set fire to them. Ban Hoodies why should anyone want to hide their identity. When found guilty remove all benefits.
If they really want to fight then ship them out to Afghanistan and let them stand shoulder to shoulder with real men and women who are fighting to give these morons a life to be proud of, a truly British way of life one that does not contain this mindless behaviour
In Afghanistan they can fight an enemy that has the capability of fighting back and returning fire with fire we would soon see just what cowardly Morons they are
I feel as if society is like a giant Jenga most of the bricks are missing and its tottering so maybe we should pick up those bricks and start to make it secure again
I have gone on enough no matter how much we rant and rave the only way forward is teach them respect, in the forces you have to earn respect How we do that today I have no idea. But if they want volunteers for the water cannon I will be there I was well trained
Or maybe we need more people to show an example of how good life can be if lived in a
decent manner. Forget the examples of racist, raping, cheating footballers. Drug taking, alcoholic pop and media stars get rid of them all from the so called media and bring back real decent examples of how to live life to the full
ENOUGH you all know where I am coming from: as you are all very nice people

I am doing well, my broken bones are mending I have even managed to play my guitar in church. I have been doing a bit of gardening and some work on the boat nothing too heavy Today we are off to a funeral of one of our dear friends it really brings the last 4 months into perspective and reality. Noreen and I are in the middle of forming our next trip we are desperately searching for a safe route??? I now know hospitals along the canal I would really like to go out in April and return in September with out calling in on accident & emergency departments I am bored with them

I am Back

2011-07-27T17:05:00.000+01:00

I awoke this morning in my lovely warm comfortable bed something that I have not experienced for the past 11 weeks Oh what joy. I lay there listening to the the distinctive shrill of Robins as they bully the Bluetits for every scrap of available food. Looking out of the port hole that is almost level with the bed and gives me a commanding view of the full length of the marina. I can see a few boaters are up early as they have a grey plume rising from the black and polished brass chimneys. So characteristic of a well kept NB (don’t look at mine) the ducks have heard me rise and are paddling like hell to be first at the kitchen hatch where they know they will get a share of my morning toast, All is well in this magical world and it seems I have never been away everything thing seems to be welcoming me back, even Herby my Heron put in an appearance yesterday as if to say hi Al welcome back, This beautiful tranquil back water that I now inhabit will surely speed my recovery how could anyone not appreciate what life has to offer being surrounded by so much of Gods good grace. I am back for one of the nicest seasons of the year autumn when the summer starts to loose its grip, a few months now and I will watch all the birds from Martin mere and the western marshes fly over head making their way to better feeding grounds for the winter. What a sight to see three or more skeins of geese numbering hundreds fly past we are right under the flight path. The noise can be heard for miles

We may have our problems on the cut but the sacrifices of this serene unspoilt way of life are worth the reward .

The Marina have made a grand job of our new garden, Noreen has bought the new garden furniture Mat has done the landscaping so all is ready for me to relax and enjoy the rest of the summer / autumn and hopefully have lots friends around. When I arrived yesterday I was overwhelmed with the garden its the first time I had seen it, many hours are going to be spent relaxing in it

May your God go with you

pics of our new Boat / Mooring Garden

Buggerlugs is back

2011-07-21T16:18:00.000+01:00

Buggerlugs is Back

Buggerlugs is back on her mooring at Fettlers to a great relieve of Noreen she has done a superb job with the help of Kath and John who I cannot praise enough, It must have been difficult for John as John’s boat is a lot shorter than Buggerlugs. Also buggerlugs is a very heavy boat with a big deep draught, consequently it takes a lot to turn her round something that John experienced in the first few 100 yards as the boat had to be turned to head for Birmingham, as usual the winding hole was to small for a 60ft but John persevered and managed to turn her using aa 96 point turn but he did it and where better to get familiar with the handling of a boat than a very tight winding hole after that familiarisation it was then foot down to Birmingham gas street it was then on to the Wolverhampton flight which they accomplished in a record 2hrs and 15 minutes even though the penultimate lock was broke as the back gate would not close they called BW but before they arrived John had persuaded it to close (brute force) then as far as the Audlem flight was quite uneventful though I was amazed at the amount of miles they were covering in a day John had a bit of an embarrassing moment at Audlem we all no how congested it gets around the water point there is never anywhere to wait. Anyway he managed to get around that little problem and they set forth to Middlewitch, all credit to john all those terrible locks and tight turns around kings lockwere negotiated without and bump and without the use of buggerlugs bow thrusters. Kath has developed a new style of getting off the boat its called the Buggerlugs Para Roll it entails jumping 6ft onto the bank and rolling onto your shoulder whilst bringing your legs into the upright position. Something I intend to practise when all my fractures are healed?????? I think with could these methods of getting off the boat, diving into the water and blacking inspection, we revolutionise Boating to become a Olympic sport ???????

Mr Bamber joined the crew at Anderton (we say Mr Bamber because having two Johns on board things gets very confusing. Mr B however wanted to know just how powerful buggerlugs was and when his turn for the helm came he decided to try and get Buggerlugs to climb a tree something Buggerlugs refused to even contemplate. The rest of the trip was almost uneventful except Boothstown having no deisel and getting back to Rufford on fresh air.

I must also put in here a thanks to Alan Hall for transporting every one around

I cannot thank the Johns and Kath enough for their help in bringing Buggerlugs home

As I have said before Canal folk are a special breed and are always willing to pitch in and get the job done

Thanks

birthday

2011-07-17T10:30:00.001+01:00

Happy Birthday Big

I awoke this morning looked up and said a big thank you I have made it to another birthday this year one that I did not thick I would make. As a treat I read all your comments on the blogg they are so inspiring to me you lot are the driving force of my recovery . I then started to think of what my life has consisted of so far. And the jobs I have done . I have been a news paper seller, a plant Operator, a bridge builder, a firewood chopper and seller, a House remover, Tarmac layer, and poacher,. I have climbed mount Kenya, tramped the jungles of south America and Borneo/Malaya. Crossed the desserts of the Persian Gulf and Arabia, I have been a chef catering manager, general dogs body and now to that list I can add Boat blacking inspector. I forgot about being a soldier I can not divulge much about that as I signed the official secrets act ?????
I have had a great day Mat collected me this morning I managed to get a day pass. we had a great day a lovely lunch and a smashing chilli tea Maryanne arrived and everything was set for a real family day.
The above all blend into insignificance against the reality of life the best and most important things I have done and been is a father , husband and friend these hold the best memories and achievements for me the rest sound exciting and romantic but the real test of how you have conducted your life is the family and friends that still enjoy your company .

64 years I have survived (only just) with the friends and family I have, I cannot see why I should not be able to annoy you all for a great deal longer. So beware I am continuing the blog even if it is a bit monotonous at the moment . I apologise for the content at the moment but this accident has made me think outside the box and brought a lot of issues to the fore.

Just as a foot note Noreen is going like a fly boat she set off last Monday afternoon from Kings Norton came up through Birmingham, Wolverhampton Audlem and today 6days on she will be in Lyme what a skipper I pity the crew they must be knackered she also says she will be in Rufford by Tues night don’t flag her down she is stopping for no one ????????????

Big Al

A very quiet place

2011-07-12T18:32:00.000+01:00

I am really struggling for something to report. Her at Rakehead rehab life has a very sedate pace , nursing care here is centred on getting patients ready to be independent . Bothe physically and mentally .

As I said things here go at a much slower place, there are a lot of ill people here so I do not intend to make light of the place by making improper jokes I can joke about my own condition but it seems wrong to joke of others illnesses lets face it my episode became a joke from the moment I fell off the safety chain.

Part of my occupational therapy, I was asked to join the cooking club,I was very reluctant to say yes but I was cajoled into accepting , I started by tearing up the recipe and doing my own thing the instructors / therapists moved to one side and allowed me to take over the class we completed the task in record time and now have curry and rice for 12 patients dinner tonight (I hope I am getting paid .???????

Rakehead is great for visitors quite unlike a hospital we have a large day room were we eat and entertain our visitors of which I must say I have plenty . Margaret came yesterday and she said something that stopped me in my tracks she said “ most people have to wait until the die to find out how much people held them in regard I have experienced that knowledge in the present tense and I am very humbled by the experience.

Noreen has now got the boat to the bottom of thw Wolverhampton flight and is taking that on first thing in the morning so she is making good time and on schedule. If you pass her or she passes you give her a wave she is doing a great job.

As things progress I will get back to more interesting and humours blog please stay with me normal service will resumed soon.

I am Back

2011-07-07T18:23:00.001+01:00

Hi Friends

Well here I am back in the land of the living. Before I give you a resume of what happened and how things are now I want to thank everyone for their kindness not just to me but the family as well the cards letters and prayers have been most humbling , you truly are wonderful people.

Here goes As most will know I was as usual trying to save a few bob by scraping and blackening the boat myself. All was going well the boat was blacked the roof painted and ready for the water. It was then I decided to inspect my handy work by jumping backwards into the dry dock and doing the inspection on my way down. What I did not know is that the inspection would leave me with 10 broken rib, broken left clavicle and a slight hole in my head . The matter was soon resolved with the arrival of the air ambulance who soon had me lashed down and whizzed off to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham

I was immediately put into ICU, I did not respond to any treatment so it was decided to place me in a induced coma and there I stayed for the next 19 days . Whilst in the coma it was thought I may not come out the other side and if I did I would loose speech and mobility But they did not put into the equation the Hodgkinson fighting spirit and the fact that I did my training on the streets of Openshaw Manchester. After the 19 days coma they started to bring me round very slowly here I must apologise to Noreen for giving her a hard time I was not aware of how rude I was. In my defence I was quite poorly when I did come round I was transferred to a normal ward where I was taught how to walk and talk and some manners. That is basically how it went though for the full story you will have to ask Noreen as she was by my side all the way and to who I indeed owe so much.

Right It was decided that the QE could do no more for me the bleed on the brain had stopped and I was mobile with speech therefore I have been transferred up to Burnley into the Rakeshead rehabilitation centre. I still have all the broken bones but I am grateful for all the work that has been put in to get me this far I owe a lot of people a lot of thanks even the two lady ambulance drivers who yesterday drove me through some awful weather from Birmingham to Burnley here at Rakeshead it is hoped next week that they will sort out my broken bones get me physically ready for going back to the boat, hopefully mid Aug . Prior to that the occupational therapy team will have to visit the boat to see that I can at least get on her we see no problems,

This enforced rest period in my life has thrown up a lot of mysterious questions, Whilst coming out of the coma my brain visited some very dark places from my past, places I never wanted to be in the first place and where I do no want to return these have been sitting in the back of my mind for years but now I have faced up to them and find myself able to move on so who knows maybe there is a reason for everything

I hope that this very short résumé has answered any questions Yes at one time it was touch and go and I could see you all searching for you black coats But thanks be to God I have cheated again give me a couple weeks and I will be back in Rufford showing our kid how to catch the big one .

God bless you all again I cannot thank you enough I am not going to start thanking individuals that would be silly but here I am going to give a special thanks to Fettlers Wharf Alan Daniel and Sarah they have been most kind and helpful to Noreen

Noreen has pressed ganged her crew and will start bringing the boat back to Rufford next Monday Noreen has turned out to be a bloody good skipper she now handles the boat as well as I ever did

Being in hospital has not all been doom and gloom being Big Al I have seen the funny side of things .

I was referred to as a head trauma now for the nurses to assess you especial first thing in a morning they will wake you and ask; on the face of it very stupid questions for instance How old are you? where are you? Who is the Queen; That’s fine they are just checking that you have not suffered a stroke in the night. However the crunch came when a doctor with his entourage stood at the end of my bed held up a pencil and asked what is this. My reply was if you don’t know then you should not be drilling holes in my head . Maybe not the smartest answer for he and his team just walked off without discussing my case but hey what do they expect.

Bed Pans and commodes these were invented by the Victorians to humiliate degrade and embarrass patients into submission for further invasive treatment, this policy is still carried out today and there is only one escape and that is mobility for if a patient can walk they no longer need the services of the above torture devices. I have many a tail to tell about such processes but they are not really publishable material.

Food in hospital has always been the scorn of stand up comedians and on reflection they could have had plenty of material with our meals, not just the quality but the way they set menus and group food together. How about lentil crumble and baked beans (remember you are stuck in bed) shepherds pie Baked beans and onion gravy? The concoctions continued in that routine You were able to select you choice the day before however what turned up was a guessing game . It did provide us many a laugh .

As you progressed through treatment and became more independent you were moved from ward to ward always getting closer to that ultimate goal discharge Yet in my case I eventually ended up yes near the exit but it was only a wall separating my ward and my bed from the morgue . After a few days the ward was commonly known as the naughty boys ward as I shared it with three other real characters Lee Head injury Dean mugged in Birmingham and left in the gutter head injury, John brain Tumour we based ourselves on characters from the film The Great Escape if you can remember that far back I became little Jock he went mad tried to scale the fence and was shot ????? Our best stunt was in visiting time we would form a line march up and down the ward with out crutches, walking frames and sticks whistling the Great Escape the nursing staff did not understand our humour and we were escorted back to bed by security .

I still maintain that if you can see the funny side of things you will recover better and quicker. No matter what I say about hospitals and especially QE they managed to humpty dumpty together again and I shall always be eternally grateful God bless all nursing staff and their ability to cope with patients like me

thaanks

2011-06-22T20:37:00.001+01:00

thanks to Mat for continuing the Blog and theHodgkinson Tradition of st0ry telling
Its been a very humblng view days I had no idea that one person could be blessed with so many wonderful freinds We are as a family trully blessed I am tring to construct this from my h0spital bed ten broken rbbs a busted cavicle and tw0 h0les in my skull s0 please excuse the lack of Jokes
Mat will continue with all the news

ONE MONTH DOWN THE LINE & ON THE MEND

2011-06-19T12:31:00.002+01:00

Saturday the 18th of June

Today started with a lot of nerves both Lorraine and I haven't seen dad now for two weeks we were off to Birmingham to meet up with Maryanne and Gregg to see Dad for fathers day, not what I had planned over a month ago but to make the best of a bad job.

Couldn't believe my eyes no nccu ward, no wires, no tubes just the old warrior sat there raising his hand into a pistol shape and pretending to shoot us as we walked towards his bed, the smile said it all no words needed to be spoken we just looked at each other with a nod. It was better than any fathers day I could of planned.

We had a great time as best you can in hospital ward anyway, talking about what had happened and the future. Dad is aware of what i'm writing now and wants me to thankyou all for your support also he has some tales himself that he wanted to share so here we go.

FROM THE OLD WARRIOR

Sat here in my bed there isn't much to do and I feel like shite but the good thing is I'm here I feel sick all the time, its about 20ft from my bed to Charlie opposite I have become quite a good shot now every time I eat or drink something Charlie gets to share it with me about 2mins later, I can see the funny side whats up with him. Alot of the nursing staff are military there is a ward here for the lads and lasses coming home from war zones yesterday a Chinook few over ,unmistakable sound that, but me shouting INCOMING down the ward didn't go down well.

You will be glad to know I am being a nuisance, falling out of bed and having to be hoisted back in you know the usual stuff... a man has to do. Take care all hope to see you soon.

BURNLEY

Of all the places in all the world yes you guessed it theyplan to send him to Burnley, joking apart we are told its execellent and this wherethe rehab will begin so for all you local people nows your chance to give mum the break she deserves I will let you all knowdetails of visiting etc as soon as he gets a bed

God bless, Matt

UPDATE DAYS 10 TO 15

2011-06-06T22:15:00.000+01:00

THANK GOD (& NURSING STAFF) FOR SMALL MERCIES

Well all your National Insurance contributions have been well spent this year so please no more complaining about them they have been put to good use. There has been a dramatic turn in Alans condition this week, Saturday the 4th of June Dad had opened his eyes and was moving his head from side to side. He seemed to be frustrated and fed up with the environment in which he awoke , but that's understandable it would be fair to say also a little frightened. Then came Sunday, an indifferent day it started of a little shaky with Dad giving us a hard time, he wasn't responding as the day before, but as the day progressed so did he. I think it had something to do with me telling him he only had another 10 days to recover before the fishing season started. He seems to know who we all are and is breathing on his own although he is still very weak. There has been talk of moving him down the ward a bit in 3 or 4 days time, this means that the further away from the nurse's station he goes the more stable he is. At the moment and for all his stay at the hospital he has remained next to the nurse's station.
His throat is very sore and he hasn't spoke but its all good news today.

My next update might be a while away as its Thomas' birthday weekend 11th June so we won't see him until the following weekend.

Both Maryanne and I would like this chance to say publicly how well Mum has coped with everything, without her doing what she does it would have been impossible, thanks Mum you are a very special person xx

A big thankyou to you all and keep safe Matt.

Day 5 to 10 Update.

2011-06-01T21:33:00.000+01:00

First of all it has to be said that you have all been amazing, the support we have received, the kind words on the blog mean so much to the family. When you think you can't get any lower someone does something that's above and beyond or they write something on here that makes us find new strengh.

To try to be true to Dads blog I will do my best to write in his own hand.
I'm sure you have all done things that at the time seemed a good idea, but then after its to late and your not to sure. Well that's what i was thinking when dad and mum sold their house 3 yrs ago and moved on to Buggerlugs, but then I went to see them on their boat, they were like kids in a sweet shop, or in dads case a pig in shit. So it seems they were right after all. The other big decision they had to make is where on thousands of miles of canal they would live.... after careful consideration they choose Fetlers Wharf in Rufford which in my opinion has been absolutely one of the best decisions they have made in building this new life that they enjoy so much, Thankyou Fetlers.

NEWS

Busy bank holiday but not in the typical sense of a bank holiday visit to Buggerlugs. This time it was the serious kind ( no fishing ). Time to take over from my sister Maryanne who has been doing a fantastic job of making mum crazy and sane all at the same time! Both Lorraine and I set of to Birmingham in separate cars so mum could have her own car. Now that Les and Linda had brought Buggerlugs upto Lyons boat yard just a 15 min drive from the hospital, thankyou Les and Linda x

The new temporary mooring has come with a few teething problems brought about by mum well basically being mum. As most of you know she's great in the galley and great at doing the locks but it is quite clear that's where it stops. For those of you who have a boat will know that there's a whole lot more to do as I found out, however after lots of call to Danny and Alan at Fetlers we have her nicely settled in.... thankyou.

THE BITS YOU ALL WANT TO KNOW

Hows Alan getting on? Well today is day 12 and we seem to have turned the corner, dad has been taken of some drugs that were keeping him paralysed. Its early days but he has responded well by blinking and nodding his head. He seems to be responding to some commands from the nursing staff ( big thankyou ). Its still early days, tiny steps. Everyone is aware that dad is in no way out of the woods and we mustn't get ahead of ourselves, however for now its all good news.

many thanks,

Matt

SOMEONE HAS HIT THE PAUSE BUTTON

2011-05-23T15:10:00.003+01:00

Now I say pause for reasons that will become clear to those who don't already know.

At appox. 4.30pm on Saturday 21st May it was the end of the world as we knew it for all those closest to Alan, my father and author of this blog.

He has fallen into the dry dock and has suffered a life threatening head injury, his skull is fractured, he has multiple broken ribs and other minor injuries. he has a bleed onto his brain and is in the critical care unit, he is in a coma but stable all that can done is being done.

I'm Matt, Alan's son I wanted to take this chance to inform you all and also to ask you to use the comments option at the end of each post to show your support for this amazing man, he can read them later (your stories or just well wishes) thank you.

My dad has taught me most of what I know however I am, was, four years into a very important subject to me and him ,he has been teaching how to be a father, dad, role model and best mate to my son Thomas and to those of you who have met Thomas will know that Grandad and I are doing a good job, so dad fight hard lets get back to school and teach me to be the the man, the dad, the role model and best mate that you are. xx

Finally my thanks to the all the people out there in the boating community, and you know who you are, fantastic above and beyond, thank you so much, the emergency services , hospital staff thank you.

So as I said in the opening line someone has hit the PAUSE button not stop or eject just PAUSE

Matt

Stourport

2011-05-15T21:12:00.000+01:00

We have now had two days without moving and it feels very odd, The locals are very nice, we have adjusted to the language barrier and it has not caused us any difficulty YET, Yesterday we had a small walk around the town, Stourport is not much of a place, its nice with few shops though the shops that are here are very nice and well presented, there is everything you would want even a fishing tackle shop. The town consists of three roads forming a triangle and the high street sits in the middle, the canal basins which there are three
The Basins are where the Staffs and Worcester canal join the river Seven. In its prime this place must have been a very busy junction with the wide beam barges coming up the River Seven with Cargo’s taken from ships in Bristol, they would then transfer it to Narrow Boats that would transport it all over the country on the system of canals. In return of course wool and other goods would go the other way Coal, Iron, wool, cotton, lime, pottery all these goods would have been transported though this tiny little town. The Basin was so important to the town that unlike most towns that had a town clock on the town hall Stourport has its Clock on what is now the sailing club but originally it was a large warehouse overlooking the whole Basin

Another tragedy today the fridge has gone, I have tried everything , it looks like we have to get a new one all I have to do now is find somewhere to have it delivered.
We found a church only a few hundred yards away, Mass this morning was a bit drawn out one of those who liked the sound of his own voice, they did however have a good guitarist and the music was really good . Since then we have just lounged about I tried a bit of painting but it became very cold so I just read, (we have no TV reception) though I am told we are missing anything.
The fishing has been great I have caught some very fine bags of fish consisting of Bream, Perch, Roach, Rudd and Eels oh yes one Chub all of a very reasonable size that is of course before I was told that fishing was Banned in the Marina no signs were posted so I claimed ignorance (as I always do)
Noreen leaves for Belthorn tomorrow she is away for three days I am meeting Ian and the painter at 8.30am in the morning then taking the boat to the dry dock. This is going to be a new experience as I have never done it before keep your fingers crossed .
Big Al

Nice Bream

The Basin

Brummy Duck with atitude

Down to the River Seven

Some Days do not Improve

2011-05-13T21:00:00.001+01:00

Monday morning saw us leaving Norbury junction at sparrow fart, as we had a long way to go an early start was essential. The canal for the main part was very quiet the weather was fair but a strong wind meant extra caution was required on this very narrow and bendy canal . We progressed through the day and only got hit by one very heavy show and of course that was when Noreen was preparing a lock. Battling though heavy wind seems to have become the norm on this trip every time I came to a bridge or a lock you could guarantee the wind was either starboard or port side on never to the stern or forward I suppose thats the way it goes. Monday afternoon we arrived at Aurtherly junction thats were the Shropshire canal meets the Trent and Mersey , we did not want to proceed any further though I was not keen on the security of the mooring however Noreen had a word with two passing community police ladies who said we would be safe and we were. Tues we set off again at sparrow fart heading now south on the Staffs and Worcester Canal from here its all new territory as we have never been down here before, to our surprise its a very nice canal granted the first part is through the outskirts of Wolverhampton but it soon leaves the industry behind and chugs along very calmly and sedately through some very interesting countryside the route now is down hill so all the locks are down which makes it easier for me. The locks are spaced out meaning you are doing one every 20 min or so we prefer the locks in flights were you do 20 in one go then its over with, anyway we trudged on through to a place called Greenforge were we found a very nice mooring alongside a retirement village , this morning Weds again we were on the move by 7.30 and intending to make Kidderminster but we only got as far as a place called Kinver. Were again we found a nice mooring one reason for the enforced stop was I am knackered and this morning I went to jump from the back and missed the bank which meant the level of the canal rose a few feet with the introduction of Big Al. On entering the canal I managed a beautiful back flip co-ordinated with a swallow dive which in a world Olympics would have gained at least a seven. Whilst performing these new feats of diving prowess I lost the stern line which was the only way of retrieving the boat, So like a little dog chasing a stick I had to swim and retrieve the line. Not wanting to make a fuss I started to call Noreen (the way little boys do who know they have done wrong, )who by this time was 100 yards away attending to the lock when she eventually turned around she said she couldn’t see me only two men looking into the canal at the back of our boat. Anyway a kind gentleman oiked me out and somehow after swimming to retrieve the boat going under a few times, when I eventually appeared on the bank I was still wearing my flat cap which Noreen considered very funny. So a quick shower change of clothes and off again by lunch I thought I had had enough for one day . I had read that the village of Kinver was a very nice medieval village so we decided to take the afternoon off and do some exploring, in the guild book it says that there are some Rock Houses (houses built into the rock so suitably attired we set off to find them, we were given some instructions on how to find them by two ladies in a 4x4, I should have realised when they drove off laughing that we were in for it. We duly followed the rout that we had been given and true there were signs for the Rock Houses, We had been instructed that at the junction we were turn left and head up Camber Road (remember that name ) But after two hours walking up hills of 1 in 6 crossing a heath where we saw wild deer, 5 cwt of Rabbit droppings and a fantastic few of the Worcester country side, we had had enough . We followed the noise of screaming kids and found a party of school kids their teacher or leader whatever, said we were on the right track and in fact they were just below us Off we set again this time down hill it wasn’t long before we found the eighth wonder of the world guess what its Wednesday and SHUT. Two other disappointed people were there too who had taken the easy way and less environmentally friendly way and come by car I enquired the quickest way back to town he said “oh thats easy he said that road 100 yards below us is Camber Road just turn left its five minutes from there“, OH no shit I said . Anyway on passing through the village again we spied a Indian Restaurant that was advertising a Wednesday special Buffet dinner, we have just returned from there and a lovely meal it was too, I am now retiring to my bed.

Good night God Bless

I’m Knackered

Some Days do not Improve

2011-05-12T16:55:00.000+01:00

The Rock Houses

Sunday 8th

2011-05-08T21:08:00.000+01:00

The much wanted and needed rain has arrived, not a lot but enough to clean the air and water the plants. Though the rain did not dampen the spirits of a great weekend.

As I said it was Carole and Keith’s weekend we all met at the tavern wharf in Goldstone not far from Market Drayton . As always a weekend with these two is a good laugh, its funny how a mundane thing as putting a cover and a 6 inch x 6 inch x 6 ft peice of mattress sponge can cause such hilarity, to watch Carole and Keith try to get the section of mattress in the cover was better than any Monty Python sketch, the pushing, shoving, bending, climbing and jiggling was extraordinary the people in the pub opposite must have thought we were having and orgy the amount of whooping, screaming and frolicking going on.

The weekend continued in that vein with lots of fun. Having no TV reception we were resigned to playing cards what ever you do if playing cards with Carole count the cards?? The fishing was really good and as usual with our Keith the completion was fierce. I may have come out slightly on top even by weight, Keith was hampered by me taking the best peg and using all his bait, but hey we never did fight fair. They had to go early today Man U were playing and Racheal had a curry ready for them I can’t complete with that. It gave us the opportunity to get half a days start so we headed off to Norbury junction were we took on Diesel, Water, and gas here there is a lovely wash room with washing machine and dryer so Noreen has caught up with all her washing even though we have a machine on board it better to use the big machines especially the dryer any way we are now set for the week and are now going full out to Stour port with no distractions.

So I will speak soon maybe from Stour Port

Bi Al

Sorry Our Kid I had to publish this one

Cruising

2011-05-05T21:17:00.000+01:00

Wednesday 4 May

Yesterday we left Barbridge with the sun shining and the wind still blowing, our intention was to make it just a short cruise of about three hours and moor just before the Audlem flight of locks a flight consisting of 21 locks. All was going well; the canal, after the bank holiday weekend was very quiet with just the odd boat passing who like us were in no hurry to do anything. We found a lovely mooring just 20 mins away from Audlem As it was only lunch time and we could get a good signal on the telly we decided to have a early end to the days travelling. So we set out our stall we even got the washing out to dry in the fresh air. However we were only moor 20mins when half way though another wash cycle we ran out of water, this was the first time ever we have actually ran out. This then required a new strategy in our half day the nearest water point was up the first three locks of the Audlem flight. Having filled up, and found a enough room to moor we decided now to spend the night there and continue the rest of the locks the following day.

Wednesday morning we started early to avoid the “rush” we only got as far as the first lock when all the alarms on the engine started to sound I discovered that yet again we were short on water, this time in the engine as no other boats were about I decided to do the maintenance in the lock 20 mins later we were on our way again this thim only for Noreen to fall A over T and bruising her knee. Now leading a a flotilla of boats we ascended the locks after 2 hours of opening, closing filling and emptying locks we passed the last through the last one about 11.00am another hour later saw us arriving in Market Drayton were we topped up the water (we both had a shower last night and Noreen did some more washing) I also did a pump out Mooring in Market Drayton can be difficult as the banking can be very shallow but we were very lucky and found one just near the bridge. We had a quick walk into the town and found Netto did a little shopping but we will have to visit Morrison’s tomorrow to complete the rationing of the boat.

But the most spectacular part of the day would be the past two hours fishing which had me catching a good number of Roach one of at least 1½lb

Thursday

Two and a half mile round trip to Morrisons and Lidl (enough provisions now to survive a siege) Noreen is quite right in her provisioning, there are very few places to shop between here and Wolverhampton and Noreen likes to be prepared for any visitors. Back to the boat 12 miles and four locks. we had to negotiate the narrowest part of the canal were the BW lads were dredging, to get the boat past I had about 2” each side, even the BW crew said I did well to get past?? we have moored up, washed the whole boat, had lunch and had half an hours fishing and it is still only 14.15.

We now await the arrival of Carol and Keith. Due to having pushed on Tuesday and get water we have arrived here a day early but at this pace of travel a day either way is nothing.

I am having trouble with internet signal again so this may be a bit late

Big Al

May Bank Holiday

2011-05-03T16:49:00.000+01:00

Hi everyone
Well that’s the May Bank holiday over and what a weekend its been, We first had Sylvia, Marjorie, Alan and Geoff over for the curry night we were all on edge waiting for a phone call from Marjorie’s daughter who had gone into labour, I suggested to take her some of the Curry as that would shift anything. We now know that her daughter had a little girl weighing in at 9lb So welcome Constance. Mat Lorraine Thomas joined us on Friday they had decided to sail with us so Mat had to take his car to Barbridge which is about two days sail from Anderton his intention was that he would leave it in Barbridge the return to Anderton on the bus However like all good plans they fall down in the working As it was a public holiday they had changed the bus times to a Sunday service and even then that would mean him going all the way into Chester to back out again so £30.00 later and 20mins in a taxi he arrived back at the boat rather annoyed. However We managed to watch the wedding which I thought was very nice We are definitely the best in the world at Ceremonial occasions I had the boat all decked out in red white and blue To befit such an occasion.
I had all the crew up early on sat morning as we had to pump out and fill up with water, the wind soon got up and made travelling just a little difficult the canal was very busy and the going was very slow but we were in no hurry and just enjoyed the day.The new Dinette is working a treat Mat and Lorraine say its very comfortable as a bed it is making live so much easier with numbers on board.

Sunday we got up rather late as we only had a few miles to go and again even with a strong wind we just ambled along that was until my hat blew off my best hat in the panic of trying to retrieve it I managed to block the canal and get Buggerlugs grounded However Mat did manage to hook the hat out of the cut. Thomas was a little star at one stage he was relaying messages from Bridge to Galley I could imagine him in his tricorn hat white breaches and the Boatswain shouting “Master Thomas! up in the rigging with you if you please “ he would have made an excellent midshipman as he knows every inch of this boat. I have some good pics of him assisting with the locks which are priceless

Today Monday Julie John Rach and Bethany joined us so we had 9 for lunch after lunch we held a fishing competition after much deliberation I have decided that it was a draw between Rach and John at 9 each I believe that would be fair. Today has also been a rather clumsy day my chair blew in the canal, Matthew broke a rod in half, Noreen lost a packet of cigarettes to the wind and canal, Having said all that it has been a fantastic weekend and having Mat Lorraine and Thomas with us really made it a weekend to remember.

Everyone has now gone home now and all is far too quiet, the canal traffic has slowed down, even the wind has slackend off but the sun is still very hot far too hot for the end of April. Noreen and I are just relaxing here feeling very contented having conducted a very very nice weekend.
I have a new smell, aroma or fragrance for you, that is the combination of Blue bells and Wild Garlic; as we came through the woods the other side of Anderton on Sat morning the wood floor was carpeted with them the Blue Bells deep in the wood and the Wild Garlic clinging to the dampness of the canal side the smell was wonderful that has to be the smell of spring.

Under instruction from Nunu

Thomas Going Solo

After a hard day as a Midshipman

Fishing Competition

Passing through Lymn

2011-04-27T22:01:00.000+01:00

Its funny how you wake up some mornings and you know its going to be one of those days?

We left our mooring at sparrow fart this morning pushing on through Sale, Altringham, and Dunham and pushing on to Lymn now by some strange impulse I managed to arrive in Lymn just as one of the best chippies on the system was opening (what Luck) we found a mooring and had a lovely pie chips and peas for lunch. leaving Lymn I was hailed by another boater wanting to borrow a adjustable spanner I naturally pulled in more out of curiosity than anything else have spoken to the guy and looked at the job it was soon decided that it would require far more than a adjustable his shear pin had snapped and left him with no drive anyhow I shall not bore you with the details but nearly two hours later we managed to get him on his way having stripped the final drive made a shear pin fitted it reassembled everything and got him on his way.

Now unfortunately as you all know my recollection of names is useless (Ask Carrol) so it will come as no surprise that I have no idea what he or his young pal were called I have even forgot the name of the boat But! he does have my blog address so we may hear from him.

Tomorrow we are having Silvia, Marjorie, Alan and Geof over for a curry night I think we may call it a Will and Catherine stag/ hen do well some one has to celebrate it.

Be Good God Bless

Big Al

That says "Do you know what you are doing"

In my element in the engine bay

Easter Weekend

2011-04-26T20:15:00.000+01:00

What a lovely weekend we have had, Friday I had a good day with the shop, the shelving I made to fit on the side of the boat work a treat giving the customers enough space to view without falling in, it also means that I do not have to anything on the footpath. I have had to go back to pound land to buy more hurricane lamps as I have sold all but one of the original ones the problem is you never know what is going to be a good seller and what you are going to be left with. Saturday we had Tom, Shirley, her granddaughter Grace and graces mum and dad which obviously made the boat a little full But in the afternoon our old friends Val and Mike came sailing past on Perfect day they pulled in and we had a great afternoon doing catch up. Mike and Val are a great couple and always have amusing stories of canal folk. We had to abandon them about 6pm as we were off to the Easter vigil we assumed that we would be back about 9pm however on our return we gave them a knock about 10.10pm we continued were we left off until the early hours. It was great to see them again but they pulled out at 08.30 this morning with an ample supply of Noreen’s Oat Cakes.

Today we were invited up to Mats he was providing the family Easter lunch and may I say what a fantastic meal it was, he must get it from me a better meal you could not have had if you had gone out and paid a lot of money very professional from the cooking to the presentation I am not saying that because he is one of mine as most of you will know praise of any kind from me is hard to get. Though I believe both Matthew and Maryanne are good cooks and it all come from the enjoyment they get from cooking. As we are like many families these days and geographically spread out it is really nice to all get together for a meal So here I must make a great thank you to Mat and Lorraine for providing such a fantastic day

Happy Easter to everyone

Stretford

2011-04-22T20:50:00.000+01:00

Hi Everyone

We have arrived here in Stretford and settled in with the Watch Tower Cruiser Club they are a great bunch of boaters of every kind there are big ones, little ones, Old ones, New ones, some have had cosmetic work some need cosmetic work, highly decorated ones and the downright knackered ones, and the boats are quite varied as well???

One thing they all have in common is their passion for Boats and Boating. The club as I might have said before is a little gem of boating history and a must to visit if you are passing.
It has been a long day today this morning I had to change the fan belts all thee of them unfortunately nobody warned me of the razor sharp ridges on the belt pulley I now have both thumbs with deep slashes in them + two fingers I just hope that they will be ok for playing the guitar tomorrow. Noreen took Dad to the good Friday vigil at church this afternoon it is a very solemn service and to be honest over my head so I elected to look after the boat, It also gave me time to set up shop, with it being a lovely day it encouraged lots of walkers onto the canal footpath which is great for the shop so I did some painting and sold quite a few items. But other that the selling which is very nice people love to hear about the tradition of canal art and canal history it is also nice to put many myths bed about the canal I also like to inspire kids to learn about their local canal and what a part it played in the history of their town.
I am sat here at the moment with a good glass of port the light is just starting to dim. A very slight drizzle has started fall settling the dust and making all those spring smells come alive, on the far side of the canal foot path there are some quite large hawthorn which are in full bloom, the smell is fantastic, the houses around here must be at least 2000 yards away but with the good weather lots of keen people have been mowing the grass, the two combined smells are wonderful, if one could only bottle it for cold winter nights.
That slight drizzle I spoke about has now started to become a storm so I will have to dash and batten down

Big Al

New Furniture

2011-04-18T21:02:00.000+01:00

We have today finnished the fit out of the new Dinette our kid came over and drove me to pick up the cushions and it lookks great Kieth and I even tried out the bed and if it takes us two it will take anyone???
I think that Mat and I have made a good job of the dinette/bed and for quite a reasonable price.
As I said today Carol and Kieth came we had a very sedate grown up day with a bit of fishing thrown in
I even managed to get his car parked all day for £2.90 hows for Manchester.
check out the pics of the new dinette/double bed

Snug as a bug in a rug

Dinning Area

Big Al

2011-04-17T21:56:00.000+01:00

Another week gone by and we are still here in Castlefield Basin, We are still awaiting our new cushions to be made for the Dinette/ Double bed the company making them said that they would be ready by the weekend however it now seems they May be ready tomorrow. On the precept that they would be ready by the weekend Mat and Lorraine said they would stay over on Sat night but having now no bed on board they had to bring two inflatable beds to substitute for the now missing cushions, Mat did not get much sleep as one of them kept going down. I think he must have spent all night with the air dryer (and before you get the health and safety involved it was on cold) blowing up the mattress and when you have batteries for the electric system it takes no time at all to flatten them with household appliance's anyway alls well now. We have a busy week the only bad day for weather was Thursday when we took the boat up to Worsley for a pump out and Diesel It was freezing and damp and its a five hour round trip those this gave Noreen plenty of time to do the washing as we can only do it when the engine is running it also gives her something to do as there are no locks. We also had lots of visitors Maryanne came and helped us entertain Thomas on Sat whilst Mat and Lorraine got some uninterrupted shopping in. We also sat Thomas on sat night whilst they dined out though mat says how can you spend that much money and still be hungry he will never know. Maryanne is fine and still her usual self and still acting more her shoe size than age, taking her and Thomas out can be quite trying.(check out the pic taken in the museum

Friday we had two old school friends over (Margaret nee Taylor and her husband John Shaw) that I hadn't seen for nearly fifty years and the strange thing is that it felt as though we had never been apart isn't it strange how time can dull the memory and stimulate it all at the same time, we chatted for hours and now reunited intend not to let time separate such good memories. I think when we were in your early teens you must soak up every emotion known to medical science, all your hormones are running wild, every feeling becomes an experiment, and every experiment becomes an emotion (I am not talking drugs here, we never touched them, our life’s were confused enough without them) these make up the memories that last the longest and remain the strongest. After almost fifty years Margaret still has the Innocent charm of a fifteen year old in the early sixties, and John looks as though he could still run out for the first eleven, Me I fell into the abyss and saw the dark side, which has sort of dulled some of my opinions in life, even at fifteen I think my innocence had been sullied. We are having a reunion in May although I cannot attend as I will be in Worcester just my luck the only time I could get my own back on some of the scrotes I went to school with and I’m away which in the great scheme of things is about my luck. I wish them all a great night.

Our kid and Carol comes tomorrow for the day that’s always good for a laugh if he breaks anything I will take a photo

Time to go batteries are nearly flat

Big Al

Barton swing bridge with the M60 in the background

The lighthouse at Patricroft

Maryanne and Thomas in the museum

Hi

2011-04-11T21:54:00.000+01:00

Yesterday was such a wonderful day , not only did all my guitar playing go well in church, Noreen won on the raffle and I was given a new high vis jacket ideal for the back of the boat., its strange how you receive things when you plead poverty?? On returning to the boat we had Mat Lorraine Thomas and his little pal TJ? for lunch which was a nice surprise . As the Science and Industry Museum is just over the road we decided to take the kids. We went into the aircraft museum first the kids love it I on the other hand am a bit more reserved over the exhibits as I actually flew in a few of them and rode some of the motor bikes on show Ah well at least I was a wealth of knowledge. The two lads wanted to go on the moon rocket race simulator Noreen and I decided we would accompany them it was fantastic, travelling a breakneck speed, forcing others off the circuit, very similar to Noreen’s driving except there was no abuse from other drivers. If you are looking for a great day out with the kids try the Science and Industry museum Manchester its a good day out and free

The weather yesterday here was great in the afternoon every piece of grass was taken with people having picnics, wine parties, family BBQs, and all sorts merry goings on, and I’m sure in some hidden corners orgies were happening, however I was not allowed to go and look.
Today was a stark difference not only in the weather but also with the tasks we had on, first we had to go and get the car from Noreen’s dads this entailed my first voyage on a metro tram and may I say a very pleasant experience it was, it seems to be a very efficient service though not what I would call cheep. We then had quite a lot of stuff to buy to finish off some work on the boat. We also had to visit my brother who had been taken into hospital. He was in Tameside hospital after fighting our way through the Manchester Traffic up to Ashton it then took us half an hour to park the car I am sure the designers of the place did it in such a way as to deter visitors it is the most unfriendly hospital I have ever been too If the NHS want to save money pull the bloody place down. And why did they build a hospital on a bloody hill I needed oxygen by time we reached our kids ward. He went in with heart problems and now has a upset stomach. which apparently comes free with three day stay. It was well worth it though and I hope we cheered him up??
One other thing annoyed me today, in Stretford I saw a mini bus with the words Afro/Caribbean Welfare Bus, it was taking people to there club for the day which is great, and I applaud the community spirit which can supply such transport.
But what I want to know is could I run a bus which says White English Welfare Bus or would that be racial ????????????? I believe if we advertise racial segregation we promote it Just a thought.
I have just spent the last 20 mins looking for a rattling noise which just sounded like the central heating system leaking. I searched the boat checked the heating, I could not find anything wrong. Then Noreen went out for a fag and it was then she realised that the boat across the way had started its engine which had a very bad rattle, ever felt an idiot.
Speak soon
Big Al

Speak soon

Big Al

Arrived in Castlefield Manchester

2011-04-09T20:47:00.003+01:00

What a fantastic day we have had . The sail into Manchester was really good the sun was out the wind was calm and the canal quiet . As you navigate from Leigh through to Manchester is amazing you first traverse the open country now reclaimed from the once thriving mining industry which brought great prosperity to the canal owners, of course we all know that the Bridgewater was the first commercial canal in the country

Over 200 years ago. Having left Leigh and Astley you again pass some lovely open countryside through Worsley woods where I once did an awful lot of scouting at Middlewood camp site, under the M60 you then pass the famous Worlsey court house

Here the canal is a very strange ochre colour caused by the iron ore in the mines seeping into the canal, once through Worsley you soon pass though Apricot I am not sure if it is a suburb of Manchester or Salford though I think the later. After Patricroft you pass over the famous Barton Swinging Aqueduct this construction which at one time was one off the wonders of the industrial age swings the canal over the Manchester ship Canal so to allow ocean going ships to pass, even though now it rarely moves and would look better for a lick of paint it still remains for me one of the wonders of the water world.

Its then time to pass the Trafford centre on your right and the first industrial park in the world on your left that of Trafford park. Turn left at Waters meeting and pass the Old Trafford we passed at 2.30 and had some good crack with the 1000s of United fans they also run some quite large boat trips to the ground which today were full of screaming fans all having a great time As we pulled into Castle field basin we were greeted by the usual Saturday afternoon drinkers But as the sun was shining they were all out on the wharfs singing and merry making inst it strange how the sun effects the drinkers I think its great as I just watch the antics and wait for them to fall in and then watch the drunken mates attempt to get them out, I never interfere unless I see that the situations is getting out of control then I do my life saving routine (without getting wet)

We are here now and settled in, we have looked around for a place to park the car for the next 10 days or so but at £80 a week we have decided to leave it at Toms and when needed we will catch a tram to Stretford

Keep Smiling

Big Al

Three days in Leigh

2011-04-09T10:30:00.002+01:00

Hi Every One

Well that’s the first part of the visiting over, We managed to visit everyone on the list or they visited us , If you are ever passing through Leigh one of the best moorings and relatively safe is 100 yards up from Butts Basin on the opposite side to the tow path there is a private edge and easy access to the main road and one of the best chippies 10 mins walk by turning right when you reach the road. Other than the first two days when we got absolutely soaked the weather has been good . Today we are off to Manchester the weather looks absolutely fabulous so we should have a good trip .

I am sorry that I cannot give any funny anecdotes but this was only a visit to old friends lets hope that the trip from now on will be more entertaining for you

First day

2011-04-04T17:27:00.000+01:00

Hi everyone

Monday the 4 April the morning dawned grey and quite cold. The weather forecast did not look good neither did the sky line. Still we had decided to start our journey today and if you put it off just because of the weather you would never do anything would you . Having filled up with diesel, had a pup out and said our good byes to Alan and Danny with a blast of the Claxton we set off,

I new that the wind would be a the underlying problem for the day and it was, Rain you can cope with But wind is a different kettle of fish it tends to prevent you from going in straight line and getting Noreen on and off for the locks all becomes far more complicated than it should be. For the first hour the hazy sun tried to break through a milky cloudy sky we new it would not be long before it gave up and give way to the dark clouds that were amassing in the west and heading our way we were right, soon we were into high winds and driving rain we new from the outset that it was not going to be a good and soon enough we new why not only were we rusty in our boating skills but the locks were also very rusty. Even with the wind and the rain and our rusty boating skills we were still managing to make headway, that is until lock 5 where on leaving the lock with a broadside wind I managed to get us grounded by allowing the wind to throw the bow onto the far bank, it took us almost 30mins to extradite ourselves off the bottom the rest of the journey was; well all I can say is hard just a very hard slog. We eventually moored up at 15.30 at Dean Lock under the M6.

All the above sounds quite harrowing but now sat here having stripped out of our wet clothes, had a shower, dressed in warm clothes, a good fire blazing, a lovely Curry bubbling away on the cooker all the hassle of the days journey seems a long time ago. That’s the beauty of this live you are soon appeased and with all your creature comforts with you it never takes long to be (reet comfy )again.

It appears that the weather for tomorrow is the same as today so its just a case of getting the wet weather gear on again putting our best foot forward and getting on with it. Its more miles tomorrow but fewer locks with an early start we should be in Leigh before early afternoon .

Keep Smiling

Big Al

Buggerlugs

Monday 08.30 WE ARE OFF

2011-03-30T21:28:00.000+01:00

From the deck of

Buggerlugs

Its true what they say “there is no substitute for experience“ Last year whilst out on the canal we were constantly shopping for a multitude of items that were difficult the find especially without a car. The list is endless so I will not bore you with them, Then there were items we took along but never used. So this year we decided to plan it a bit better Noreen thinks that I go to far planning it like a military move, with schedules, lists and itineraries, I tell her old habits are hard to break.

But the whole thing has now come together, we have enough stores such as rope, fenders, engine spares, electrical spares, iron mongery, food, booze, and fuel to last at least the first part of the trip. The boat has been polished all the brasses are gleaming she is full of fuel all spares stowed away and ready for the off.

Getting the boat ready for the off has been quite an exercise one we never really thought about but in hindsight this year we are ready for anything that the canal throws at us (we think)

In some ways we will miss the security and convenience of the marina with all its facilities and closeness to family but the open water awaits and of course we have lots of friends to catch up with and winter stories to swap. As for family they always know were we are visits are numerous.

The open water and the life we will live fir the next six months is something I know lots of people dream about its exciting, stimulating, calming, sometimes fretful, sometimes very scary but always actively stimulating. Also we don’t have to join a gym to keep fit.

Please stay with the blog I will attempt to make it as interesting as possible

Yours

Big Al

2011-03-17T22:00:00.000Z

Hi Again

It looks as like on my last blog I omitted to say where I we going to too so here is a quick Run down:

For the first part which will include the most of April firstly the first week we will be in and around Leigh as we are having a some work done on the boat. we will then spend a week in Castlefield Manchester onward then to Stretford were we will spend Easter with Noreen's dad this will also be good for the the Easter mass at our church in Salford.
As soon as the easter holidays are over we will be setting off for Worcester we have to be there for the 16 May to have the roof re-painted this will mean traveling down the Bridgewater canal Going through Altringham, Northwich, then onto the Shropshire canal continuing south through a very beautiful part of the country. We hope to spend a couple of weeks round the Worcester area and the start North East traveling just south of Birmingham the turning south along the Grand union were we will then turn north up the River Nene towards Peterborough. Then the fun starts we head off weaving our way through the middle levels towards Cambridge Via Wisbeach, Diss and Ely hopefully ending up in Cambridge about July.
That is a very rough guide to our itinerary
If anyone is about any of these places we would love to have you aboard

Fair Winds and good weather ahead of you

Big Al

almost ready for the off

2011-03-14T21:12:00.000Z

Hi everyone

Please forgive me for not keeping up the blog , though I do have an excuse, and that is I have been really busy also I have had very little to report.
However we are now well on our way to being ready for the off. I had a little trouble last week with the rudder, I needed to change the rudder bearing, which in itself is not a difficult job, unless whilst trying to remove the bearing you pull the rudder arm out of the skeg, as I did. Luckily I had the forethought to put a rope on the rudder tied to a stern post so that I didn’t loose the lot to Davy Jones’s locker. Now if this ever happens to you before you start shelling out having the boat put into dry dock to re-engage the rudder in the skeg, do as I did, screw back in the swan arm retaining screw, put wire around the screw making a loop enough to pass a rope through then tie a rope onto the rudder, by lifting the centre post and manoeuvring the rudder it is possible to drop the rudder post back into the skeg single handed though its a killer on the back. Also unless you are a very competent engineer with a full workshop buy the housing with the bearing ready fitted to buy just the bearing albeit a nylon bush with a centre o ring they are impossible to fit back into the original housing.
I have fitted new buttons to the pointed bit and re vitalised the buttons to the blunt bit I have given the hull a blacking to the waterline ( I am doing the rest when it is in dry dock in May.
The engine has had a complete service. My son Matthew has made me a new long top box for plank, fenders and such like, so now everything is ship shape and ready for the off
We are now sorting out the last few dinner parties for friends we won’t see for the next six months and getting everything like dental checks, heart checks, bulking up on the tablets and all the domestic and personal stuff sorted.
The weather has been very kind to us allowing all the work to be done its been great not to have to worry about the rain though I think we will suffer in the summer for this lack of rain I can see us being short of water again?
All our families are fine no problems there . Fantastic news from the Antipode’s I am a great uncle again my nephew and niece in Australia have had a baby girl Scarlet who by looking at her picture will be braking a lot of young men’s hearts
Fishing has been quite good Our Keith came last week for a couple of days he managed a nice Perch which was deserving of a photo, the week before we had Bethany, Rachel and Elliot they where fishing when I hooked into a large Pike about three foot long and despite all our efforts we could not land it, it was on long enough for everyone to have a look at it but when it came to getting it out, it took one look at the net, shook its head and said good by.
The picture below is of my new friend I miss Herby the Heron unfortunately he has not been seen for some time though Phil the Pheasant is a good substitute but a lot noisier, at least with Phil if I get fed up of him he will make a lovely Pie\????

Keep smiling summer is not too far away now I will give you a report when we are on the move.
Big Al
Buggerlugs

Day Out

2011-01-11T20:39:00.000Z

Great Day today

Thank you to Chris and Gerry for a wonderful reception, lunch and walk. Chris and Gerry have been stuck in the ice in Great Haywood throughout the cold snap, we were feeling rather sorry for them being stuck in the middle of nowhere.
How wrong could we be what a wonderful place they have the Shrudburry Manor estate on one side and the river Trent on the other. The views are stunning and the walks fantastic, except for the inconvenience of having to walk for the water, diesel, and coal they have fared a lot better than some in the marina's and now the canal has thawed they are mobile again, unlike us who are still iced up. and still having to push a barrow with the coal in.

It was great to get out again (before the price of petrol makes us all house bound ) anyway, being back on the Cut was great it started my itching feet tapping and raring to go, spring can not come quick enough.

Check out the pics and if you are ever passing Great Haywood stop and experience the place very very nice especially the walk over the pack horse bridge and along the river.

Keep smiling we will all be out again soon

Big Al

The Pack Horse Bridge

The Manor House

Long Horns

Noreen and Chris all wrapped up

2011-01-05T14:16:00.001Z

Hi everyone
Well that's it Christmas and New Year over, packed and stowed away until the festive season comes around again.
We had a great Christmas mainly because we decided that we were going to try and take out the commercial element out of Christmas, and to a degree we did especially in the respect of presents, most of our presents for adults were things we made Noreen made a selection of biscuits and I painted the tins to put them in, I also made personalised calenders with photo's of their visits to the boat all these items were accepted with as much enthusiasm a as expensive gifts. Children of course are a little more difficult, though we did decide to make every present a practical one (our grandson has not yet played with half the presents he got last year) We now seem to live in a throw away society at least when you give biscuits you know they are not going to finish up in a bottom draw. I also feel its nice to give something of yourself, and that's not me making an excuse for being a cheap skate or scrooge.
Even with the weather we managed to get out and do a lot of visiting North Wales, Warrington, Stretford Manchester, Blackburn, Leigh and Hyde, The Food was beautiful and plentiful, the drink chilled and flowing, and friends were in abundance. All our church services went well, (though cold) I managed not to break any guitar strings and stay in key playing the right chords in the right order (all down to practice)
So that's it, Now we are a new year and looking forward I tend to be a very optimistic person. I never look back my Army service taught me that, never look behind you there is nothing you can do about the past (only learn from it) it but you can alter the future.
I look forward to the new year and am very anxious for the weather to break I have so many jobs waiting, I need a new burner fitting for the central heating system, my roof needs painting, some blacking is required, I need a new button bow and stern, a new seal on the tiller and numerous other jobs, enough to keep me busy until April when we are off again.

I have only wrote this today because we are still iced up it is raining and I have nothing else to do I am very glad you are there

Big Al

Merry Christmas

2010-12-20T21:44:00.000Z

The peace Of Christmas

Merry Christmas To Everyone

May I take this opportunity to wish everyone a very merry Christmas and a fantastic new year. And to thank you all for reading all my wittering's.
Lets forget all the bad news, the wars, the financial crisis, the editorial writers will be making sure we get all the downtrodden, demoralized news in the so called news papers through the special season. Or Do like I do and don’t give them the chance to ruin Christmas and enjoy this festive season with no news paper, or any other type of news (except the weather report) After all 90% of it is pure fiction. And only think of the beautiful things in life.
So!
Remember all those who are less fortunate that us, give as not to receive. Smile, sing laugh and be happy for we are a long time Dead.
Enjoy Friends and Family for its they that matter
Remember and keep that feeling when you make some one smile, keep it with you for when you need a smile

My wishes for 2011
I would like to see all our troops home from the gulf (at let the bloody yanks have it, I’ve been and its not worth dying for)
I would like to see a year were all children are free to play to their hearts content without restrictions of fear from adult interference and health and safety nonsense. (let Children be Children)
I would like to see a year where news papers printed The News and the Truth Instead of sensationalism, Slander and untruths.
A year where all of the worlds governments worked for the electoral masses and not for themselves,
their ego and personal gain.
A year where all separated families are united and throw away all the animosities that drove them apart
And a year where all people respect all religions, customs, and heritage and allow them the freedom of
Speech, Religion, Tradition, and Custom.

May your God Bless you, look after you and care of you and yours

Big Al

The Beautiful Fettlers Warf Marina

2010-12-18T22:40:00.000Z

Even after 2 hours of clearing the boat and then finding my car this morning.
This is why I love the Marina

Respect

2010-12-18T21:54:00.000Z

I am not sure that this will go down too well but hey I have always been a bit controversial and maybe it will hit a chord with a few and you never know we could start another revolution but this time for the good

With respect

Things we use to do
Today I was in church when I noticed two men with hats on . After the service when I challenged them and said that it was disrespectful to do so, they said that they didn’t know it was disrespectful and anyway why were women allowed to wear a hat and men not (that then started another debate) However It started me thinking of the many things that were once natural and respectful which now you very rarely see or experience.
When a funeral came down the street men would doff their cap, give the sign of the cross, bow their head or at the least stand still until it had passed .
Even now in today’s mad world I can not bring myself to overtake a hearse . Unlike others I see that cut up the whole procession so so rude and unnecessary.

Now I am far from being a whimp and have been called a chauvinist, but I think that doing the gentlemanly thing is being able to do something rather special and it cost nothing, as does, Opening a door for a lady, Standing up when a lady comes into a room, when a lady arrives or leaves the dinning table, Walking on the out side of a lady, as the great philosopher said Manners cost Nowt. Neither does switching off the TV, Radio, Wee or play station when a visitor calls, or whilst eating. Using the words Excuse Me., Thank You and Please would go a long way to combating the lack of respect .
Wearing a hat in church, in the house or whilst eating are all disrespectful to the people you are eating with.
Chewing gum may be a way of cleaning your teeth while you are having a busy day , but it when talking to me please please take it out, but do not drop it on the floor or stick it under the table (Dirty little Sods)
Allowing children to play in a restaurant , I pay good money to eat out and I do not want children running under my table playing hide and seek, the parents are mostly oblivious to the chaos the kids are causing. I not saying that they should not take the kids Out, what I want is for them to respect my space and teach the children manners, there are places available for children to dine in chaos. Which I do not frequent .

I find that the disrespect for other is the underlying route of most of our problems, my Dad always said that you have to respect yourself before others can respect you. And certainly in the army I had to really earn that respect the hard way. I am not going to condemn the youth of today because they do not know any better , and some of the older age group are no better the man with the hat in church was my age and I see some very ignorant Oldies not respecting the younger ones. Maybe. I should condemn my age group and the disastrous sixties where we threw convention out of the window. And started the free society were anything went. Hopefully though I do still retain a modicum of civility and respect to others.
What is the answer ; I have no idea, but maybe we still have a chance by bringing back respect to our society, We have children and grand children and there is the starting point.
And when you see someone in church with a hat on or talking to you whilst chewing gum Tell them its not acceptable and why. Whilst trying to talk to my grandson the other day I insisted he turned the TV off whilst we had a conversation, a small step I know but lets start

Big Al

Winter

2010-12-07T21:22:00.000Z

Winter

Winter

I promised that I would not complain on this one so here is something that may cheer you up.

Unless you have to travel to work everyday through the ice and snow.

Whilst everyone around us has been moaning about the adverse weather we are suffering, for the first time since I left school I have been enjoying it.

Since leaving school we have always had to struggle through the snow and ice into work or struggle to get kids to school, especially work as so many people depended on us being in work. Now though we can stay in bed until the sun comes through the port holes and warms the earth. Or like this morning I was out early taking photos of the absolutely beautiful scenes around the marina, it was like a fairy wonderland with frosted trees that seem to sparkle in the morning light. The Holly bush was displaying leaves of dark green edged with a white frosted border, the boats as still as statues encased in a iron fist of ice; a light covering of snow hiding the usual vibrant colours and shrouding them in the uniform white, one or two chimneys dispensing grey puffs of smoke showing sign of the inhabitants stirring within. My now very tame Robin chirping his way to an early breakfast, and being quite a bully protecting the feed until his wife has had her fill, then the tits move in two or three at a time using their agility and acrobatics to empty the food containers. Yes it was a very magical scene, and of course the most magical thing of all, I have time to stand and stare. (See bottom of blog.) and enjoy it. As I said before sometimes when we have busy lives we do not seem to appreciate what is around us, when you are driving though 6 inches of snow you don't have time to marvel at the frosted spiders web.

I do feel for all the sorry souls who have had to struggle through the hardships of the cold snap and continue with their daily toil, but for me I am loving it.

Having time on my hands I managed to get ourselves and Buggerlugs well prepared for this kind of event, so I have very little to do except keep an eye on things, keep the water in the stand pipes running, keep the engine from freezing up (the engines cooling system is two tanks welded into the rear of the boat along the stern which is now sat in 5 inches of ice) keeping our little burner stoked up and keeping Buggerlugs very cosy.

If I have made living on the boat through a hard frost sound somewhat idyllic I am glad because that's what it is

Though idyllic as it is, this time last year we were complaining that it was too hot to sleep as we drove and camped our way along the coast down to Sydney. That's the problem though we are never satisfied are we, maybe we should thank God we woke up, and live each day for what it is and Treat the PRESENT as a GIFT.

Big Al

What is this life if full of care

we have no time to stand and stare.

No time to stand beneath the brow

and stare as long as sheep or cow.

No time to see when woods we pass

were squirrels hide their nuts in grass.

No time to see in broad daylight

streams full of stars like Sky's at night.

Poor life this if full of care

we have no time to stand and stare.

Modern Driving

2010-12-06T18:24:00.000Z

For those who enjoyed the last one here is another one

Drivers

Now before I start I am not the worlds best driver, I was taught to drive through necessity, I also had a three wheeler on a motor bike licence years before I passed my car test and even then I past my test whilst in the army in Cyprus, the examiner (my mate another Sgt.) said he had never been on a test where the pupil had killed a donkey, did a 360 degree skid and had a blow out all within the examination? (more of that storey on a later date) he did however say that my handling of the situations and the way I managed to put the vehicle back on four wheels and in the upright position after colliding with the aforesaid animal was nothing more that miraculous.

Since that time however I have got my HGV, I can drive a tank, some plant equipment, passed my advanced driver, raced moto cross motor cycles and led a army motorcycle trial team. Myself and my three brothers were brought up on petrol and grease. Dad was a brilliant mechanic who could diagnose a engine problem just by listening to it. He taught us how to listen to the engine, he said it was like a woman if you listen carefully to it then you will get it right?

I transgress this is about “modern drivers” though today we do not actually drive the car we merely steer it from one location to another the modern vehicle drives itself.

OK, Lets take for instance Fog lights; yes I said fog lights with the emphasis on fog; not get out of my way you old codger lights or Hey! look what I got for Christmas lights, or I'm blind and should not be driving lights, they are fog lights purely and simply for the use of seeing and being seen in adverse weather conditions. I am sure that when some people buy a car the fog lights are on and the owner has no idea how to turn them off. It is a driving offence to drive with them on when not required Driving without due care and attention DWDCA. So lets have hanging brought back.

Music systems, Keith and I on our various fishing trips in the Camper van have been know to make the springs rock to the sounds of Eric Clapton, using air guitar and steering wheel drum for accompaniment though the decibel rating was never in danger of injuring our ears, others sensibilities maybe but nothing medical or dangerous. Even though now I live on the boat in a marina, we are moored quite close to the A59 between Preston and Liverpool I don't know whether that has any bearing on the matter but the young racers who pass here seem to be oblivious to the noise and vibration they cause. I now know most of the music Crap that is being produced today by the incessant beat without which it could not be called Music.( It’s a pity boats don’t have double glazing.) I fail to see how they can hear an emergency vehicle trying to get passed or a malfunction to the smooth running of the engine or even the woeful cries of the pensioner they picked up on the bumper at the last crossing. Again DWDC and Pollution. Again lets have the birch back

We are also bombarded with the continual roar of over sized exhaust pipes, To my limited experience there is no engineering fact that says the louder the faster it is true that exhaust gasses must be removed quickly however to that end I know of many quieter ways of expelling unwanted and burnt gasses. I have recently come to the conclusion that the size of the over exaggerated exhaust is related in the over exaggerated ego of the di-- head driving it.

Indicators

Those are the things that are normally on an arm around the steering wheel, when pushed up or down they send an electrical impulse to lights on the front and rear of the vehicle

that flash indicating to other road users which way you intend to manoeuvre your vehicle

This is especially useful at roundabouts when people are waiting to join traffic coming from your right and the bast--- don’t indicate that they are turning right thereby leaving you sat there waiting to joint the merry throng, when you could have been away ages ago.

Whilst on about roundabouts how about the undecided, the shall I shan’t I ? driver

For Goodness sake make a bloody decision and stick to it, that would avoid my front bumper from falling in love with their rear bumper

Foreign HGV drivers, imagine a busy motorway hgv's in the inside lane one HGV decides that he is progressing at at least 2 mph more than the one in front so he should overtake, It is the only way that Spanish, French, and east European drivers feel any sort of superiority over our Brit drivers who frankly couldn’t give a sh-- and have never been in a rush to get anywhere except home. This overtaking manoeuvre normal takes 10 miles to complete over a period of several minutes whist blocking the whole motorway

Is it not time that on busy motorways and at busy time we banned HGV's from the outside lanes. (or banned all foreign drivers and their dangerous untaxed and untested vehicles. Keep Britain British and put a HGV test station at Dover.

Push bikes (run the buggers down) what gives them the right to ride three a breast on country lanes waggling their lycra clad ar-- in my windscreen they cause mayhem by deliberately blocking motorists who have PAID for the right to travel on the queens highway unlike the cyclists who believe that because they consider themselves to be environmentally friendlily they gain the right to be a bloody morons, their actions cause pollution by making cars use fuel in an uneconomical way (queuing and labouring to get bye) is anything but environmentally friendlily it should be made a criminal offence to travel in such a dangerous and inconsiderate manner. So should crossing red lights, scratching cars with handle bars, riding on the pavement. and basically being a deek.

and the worst offence is the wearing of lycra I say make them all pay road tax and insurance. and ban lycra

Enough

My next communiqué will be a very nice one none of this grumpy old man stuff so just keep a look out

Big Al

Another Rant

2010-11-29T20:19:00.000Z

Hi again

I am now going to have yet another Rant.
Since retirement I have actually had time to watch some TV. I know but when its raining or freezing you are quite restricted to what you can do on the boat, especially when we are in the Marina.
Day time TV is not my rant though I do believe that you have to be almost brain dead to watch and enjoy it.
I mean where does that Jeremy Kyle find the morons he has on his programme, I’m sorry I know we shouldn’t stereotype but they cannot be real, I have worked all over this planet and been in some very deprived and depraved areas of this world and never ever have I come across such inept people, I can only hope for the survival of the human race that those people are actors and are playing the role.(for wages)
That off my chest, down to what I really want to Rant about, ADVERTS.
For a start I do not want a bloody Sofa for Christmas and I wonder just how many of you do, surely the best time to buy one would be after Christmas that way you would avoid all the kids jumping over it and sticking it full of sweets, nuts, sherry and Christmas pudding, Also if I did want to buy one, why should I want one that has been in the sale for the past 10 years.
Today’s gem for the advert buff was one for Landlord insurance the way I see this if you are smart enough to have property and now transformed yourselves into a Landlord then you are smart enough to know you need special insurance and if you did not know, then maybe you should have just stuck your money under the mattress just like granny.
And after 45 years in catering (and not killing anyone even though I have cooked in the Jungle, Desert, muddy fields, slaughtered our own Beef and used elephant dung on the fire) it really annoys me to hear advertiser's saying that they can kill 100% "of all known household germs, absolute rubbish! if they did we would all be dead, we need the bloody germs and the bacteria to stay alive, our food couldn't be digested without it. Also all this anti bacterial hand wash, well I'm sorry its just a way of printing money, the bacterial soap Ad that really gets me is the one that dispenses without you touching it. great but then you wipe your hands on the towel and you are back to square one. OK in hospital's and places of infection I can see the point but really in your own home forget it.
I believe in cleanliness but honestly the only people cleaning up are the inventors of this stuff.

Have you ever sat there and watch an Advert then wondered what the hell it was being advertised? Maybe its me, maybe I’m just a bit thick or Old or the ad wasn't "aimed" at me. I know I am beginning to sound like a grumpy old man and that people will soon stop talking to me because I go off on one, its just that I am fed up to the back teeth of people taking the average public as idiots who will believe anything because its on telly.
Just one last thing am I the only one who didn't know a single Celeb (get me out of hear) who made them celebs? I always thought celebs had done something or had been famous?? A question was asked on a game show to name Beckhams three children? I was very very proud to shout out "haven't a bloody clue"
Rant over, I feel better now
This is all because its freezing outside the Marina is frozen with 5inch of Ice and I have nothing better to do.

Big Al

2010-11-13T19:15:00.003Z

Back Again

I have been off line for a few weeks, The computer got a virus so its been to the Doc's for a flue jab. My son-in-law Gregg who is a computer doctor gave the old thing the kiss of life some TLC and a pick me up so its now up and running.
Thanks everyone for letting me know that I was not talking to myself its some relieve to know I'm not going doolally. Lisa asked were we got the name from, Well its like this as children both our fathers called us buggerlugs, I believe that was because we were both sort of unruly, for those who do not realise the word Buggerlugs is an endearment or a proclamation of mischievousness. When I was a lad the expression " oy buggerlugs come here" could be heard up and down the back entries as irate mothers called their off spring in. So when we were looking for a name for a 60ft piece of metal that will not do as its told, has a mind of its own, and sometimes we consider it is a free spirit, the word Buggerlugs seemed quite appropriate and of course its such a lovely word.
We survived the storms over the past few days with very little damage, I lost a cover off one of the top boxes but after an hour of dragging the mooring I located it in the middle of the Marina.
some of our neighbours fared worse as two sky navigation systems were blown into the canal and as yet not retrieved
I am in the process of writing a bit about adverts which will appear very soon

Keep smiling and watching this space

Hello again

2010-10-17T20:12:00.010+01:00

One of our regular walks

Thomas being Thomas

Southport beach (cleaned)

Rufford is the epicentre of Lancashire Ballooning

Well Hi everyone

I know I have been very quiet over the past few weeks, well since we returned to the mooring

One reason is that things are very quiet and the other is I am not sure that anyone is reading this stuff?? My last blog was my 10 most irritating moans, I actually sent to the RBOA magazine who kindly published it and to be honest I have had more response from them than you lot, Now I'm not complaining honest because I sometimes read this myself (but not often otherwise, I wouldn't publish anything) and I would have trouble responding to it. However if I get no response then I must assume I am talking to myself, which again is nothing very unusual.

So here we are back in the homestead of Rufford, as I said things are very quiet luckily the weather has been good so we are out and about a lot lots of walks and a bit of fishing here and there. Lots of our old friends from the marina have gone, the ones that are left are very quiet.

Quite unlike the boaters you find out on the cut, who all seem to be very jolly, or maybe its just the time of year?

Living so close to nature you tend to become part of it, here on the Marina we are very close to Martin Mere bird sanctuary and experience the comings and going of all the migratory pattens of the bird population of the north west coast, not only that its the feel of the changing season on breeze over the water, the way the change of wind and cloud formation determines the following days weather, the excitement of the hedgerow birds on a frosty morning scavenging for the few leftover maggots from fishing, watching the my pet Robin go from a scrawny little brown drab bird to a little fat red breasted nuisance as he piles on his winter fat

As I said living this close to nature maybe it gets into the human sole and makes you start your own preparation for the cold months to come, and part of that is becoming a bit solitary, as my neighbours seem to be doing.

Of course this year will be our first real winter when we are both retired. Though in one respect its great that neither of us will have to get up early and face the ice and snow which will be a relieve, on the other hand we have both always had a Job to do with people relying on us and having a worth, getting use to this quiet routine is getting rather difficult, when we are out cruising you are so busy and have specific tasks that keep you going. But now we are tending to get under each others feet so one of us needs to find a few hours work just for the convenience of not shooting each other.

I have a few paint jobs for the Marina but they will not keep me going for long in fact by Weds I will have completed them.

I have thought of being a Asda greeter " what do you think" in fact let me know what your ideal job for me would be?

Thanks for listening to my rambles.

Speak to you all again soon

I have selected a few pics since we came back

Grumpy old Boatmen

2010-09-04T21:59:00.002+01:00

This is dedicated to our Kieth, Who became an expert at vandal locks and started me thinking?????

Grumpy Old Boat Men

Now I am by nature an easygoing sort of person I have no hang ups, no, mental malfunctions, and quite independent. I did my 22 years in the army so I have seen it, done it, been there, fulfilled all my ambitions, and satisfied most of my curiosity. Therefore, the easy life of living afloat suits me fine.

However recently I have found myself becoming more and more annoyed with little grumps, having watch Grumpy old men on the tele I thought I would write my own Grumpy old Boat men, lets see if these basic ten gripes ring any bells with you.

These are in descending order number 1 being just a little niggle and number ten being my pet hate (at the moment)

I tour mainly the north and come in contact with a lot of hire boats I find increasingly that these poor families on their hire boats have been told that the Cheshire ring is possible in seven days. Now this would entail apron 90 locks including the Manchester 8 and the Marple 16 both very busy places. Now for a family of four, Mum Dan two kids this cruise would mean starting at 6am and still cruising at 7pm. This with a small family is hell I have heard comments of never again, its too hard, the kids are board, holiday from hell So come on hire companies give these boaters routes to suit individual families, remember a dad mum and two kids means dad is almost single handed. They could enjoy a nice relaxed holiday with just a little thought by the hire companies. I believe that a lot of the trouble we encounter with hire boats could be alleviated by reducing the frustration of not meeting deadlines, who wants dead lines on a boating holiday.
Visitors Moorings. I love visiting Towns and Villages along the canal and find that the history of the village or town normally corresponds with the history of the canal. I am finding more and more difficult to access these places because all the mooring are taken up with permanent linear moorings or even worse boats spending 10 weeks on a 24 hr visitors mooring. Last week I fell out with a boater who was doing a refit on a 24hr mooring because as he said “it was close to a DIY shop”. Come on spend some money you tight fisted begger and put it in a marina.
Incorrect signage. Too many shops, pubs, and other traders are putting signs on the canal stating that their business is only 500 yards from bridge?? Well little do they know that for miles in each direction of their sign there are no appropriate moorings and even when there are you find that the 500 yards has miraculously turned into a Himalayan trek. On one canal I can not mention due to a restraining order (joke) there is a sign that says Ice cream ¼ mile, we did four fields, six stiles, a heard of cows and a brook. By the time we got there, I needed a ventilator not an ice cream.
Intolerance of Hire Boaters. It is annoying when you moor up and the only topic of conversation is “damned hire boats”, some private owners seem to think that they are the only ones who have the nautical skill to run a boat. Let’s face it we have been doing it for a long time and have just about got the hang of it, my answer to all those private owners saying how they were rammed by a hire boat, is “how were you on your first week? Give them a break, friendly advice is far better than a bucket full of abuse. I know I have complained about hire boats’ ramming me but that was drunken crews that thankfully are rare and not restricted to hire boats, most of the trouble from hire boats is the fault of either bad or very poor instruction. Holiday boaters are fun to be around and I find them eager to learn, they only have the boat for a few days and just want to have fun so come on lighten up and do as I do give way, give them the water, I am in no rush I have mine on a permanent basis.
Broken / damaged pump out stations. Having traveled three days with a loo that is almost over flowing only to find that the only one for miles is broken and has been for day’s even weeks. I have all the respect in the world for BW staff and consider they do a great job but please the most important job is to keep those pump out pumping. I know its sounds selfish but marina pump outs costing anything from ₤17.00 to ₤20.00 it is a cost I cannot afford.
Gravel on service points. What a stupid thing to do, you have a service point that entails quite a bit of water being spilt and what do BW do cover the area in very fine gravel mixed with some sort of cement dust that, when wet makes the best paint stripper I know, its fantastic for stripping your deck down to its bear metal, Someone please explain this to me, But it doesn’t end there I know miles of tow path with the same material it looks great and is wonderful for push chairs, wheel chairs, and cycles but absolutely the worst thing ever for boaters. Now if you want Posh the Leigh branch of the Leeds and Liverpool has the tow path Tiled
Anti vandal locks. Ok I know in some areas we need them to guard against the little people but let us put our heads together and design something more user friendly. After all most of the little villains I see on the canal have there own key or could make one at school in DT. Most cuffs are so old that they now often cross thread or some macho hunk decides to put 50lb torque when locking it. Or the barrel has worn out. So let us assign these antiquated cuffs to the history bin.
Inconsiderate Mooring, I know we all want some kind of privacy when we moor up though if you wanted privacy you should have stayed at home, why! in lets say 600ft of good mooring space can you only get 4 boats moored, I will tell you why, because you get 6 x 60ft boats moor with 40ft of space between each boat WHY do the other boats smell? Have you fell out, or are you just unsociable. Come on give us all a chance moor up tight especially in busy areas.
Inappropriate Mooring. People who moor close to bridges, so close you can not see other boats coming, or lining up is impossible, or so close that when through the bridge you have not enough length to get around the moored boat without scraping the trees on the non tow path side, My gripe is that most of these boats are continual cruiser’s that never move the only reason they moor near the bridges so their owners have an easy walk and no other reason. Are we going to have to go down the auto route and have double yellow lines around Bridges, Locks, swing bridges, lift bridges?
Dog Poo. My number one pet hate. A beautiful day cruising ruined by throwing your rope off ready to moor up only to find it covered in dog poo or all over your shoes even worse bare feet. I advocate scooping it up and depositing it on the dog owner’s doorstep. Why do we have to put up with this disgusting, unsociable, habit, for that what it is a habit these people few though they are, but effective in the devistation that they bring, they must take a perverse pleasure in knowing they and ruining people day.

We are back

2010-08-30T14:21:00.004+01:00

Kieth doing his vascular exercise

Boat full 10 for lunch great day

Well I still have no internet and the blogs are mounting up.

Since my last e- mail we have been quite busy, Roger has returned to warmer climate although it was a short visit we packed a lot into it.

Arriving at castelfields on Sunday afternoon we met Gerry and Chris and caught up with all the latest gossip, they have now left Fettlers and we will miss them they were great neighbors but intend catching them on the next cruise out. Monday evening Keith joined us at Castelfield ready to travel with us to Rufford.

Tuesday dawned wet and windy, this continued all day; the rain was relentless, I don’t think Keith realised how difficult traveling on the boat could be in bad weather, and as he says they don’t show this on Water world? Even with the weather, we still managed to get a pump out, fill up with water and pull in for shopping in Leigh. We pushed on in the afternoon and manage to get to our first destination by 2,30pm, which with all the weather and stops was a good time.

Wednesday was a better day, cold and cloudy but as we had to do eight locks so it was better that it was dull. Thursday the gang arrived, if I named them, all I would run out of space but let’s just say we had 10 for lunch, we all had a great day I believe John won the fishing match; this was only due to his tenacity and doggedness to stick at it. Amanda won the eating contest, Oh I love to watch people enjoy food. The rest of the day was divided up in eating and laughing which isn’t a bad way to spend the day.

Well folks that’s it we have arrived back in Fettlers the last leg down the Rufford was as always a bit sad though this time with all the problems we have had it was a bit of a relief

Now its time for sorting the boat out for the winter sounds a bit early and premature but I want to take my time over it.

I hope you will keep up with the blog and I may be doing a little children’s story for the winter we will have to see.

Thanks for sailing with us Oh by the way next year its Cambridge Noreen doesn’t know yet but it was her choice this year.

Speak soon

Buggerlugs

Now at Maryanne’s,, Greg has managed to get me on line again he’s a genius

Sunny Stretford

2010-08-30T14:08:00.004+01:00

Gerry & Chris"s boat next to us in Castlefield

Roger on the trip into Manchester

Hello from sunny Stretford, I think not.

Since we arrived last Tuesday it has not stopped raining, I would like to say welcome to Manchester but the Stretfordonians would have something to say about that.

The funeral we came for was yesterday (Thursday) and was very nice if that can be said but I am sure you know what I mean, Funerals are odd things as you know I do believe and I find no problem with saying goodbye to someone because by believe tells me they have returned to a better place so I never feel sad. Now I know some people say that this is a part of the brain covering up and disguising the reality of life and death but it works for me.

Even under these circumstances of Rogers mums’ funeral it has been great seeing him again we have been able to catch up. Last night we all went out for a drink, Noreen, Roger, John, Dianne, Alan and myself, and a lovely evening was had by all. Its hard to believe that we have been friends now for over 40 years, I often wonder if its because we all met through scouting and have a very similar outlook on life, that we have remained good friends for so long; maybe the above when they read this would like to commentAs we have the car here with us (Mat and Lorraine brought it over on Tuesday) we took Tom and Shirley to Bury market today Mackerel for tea and Black pudding for breakfast tomorrowWe have just sorted out next weeks cruise from here to Rufford. Meeting Chris and Gerry in Castlefield Basin on Sunday evening, Keith is joining us on Monday night, Tuesday we set off for Wigan and we should then have a day with the Belthorn crew in Astley Bridge on Thursday. Leaving enough time to get back to the Marina by Saturday lunch.END OF THIS YEARS CRUISE.

For the none boaters and boaters really a word about the wind. Here at the Watch house in Stretford the canal is a 1-mile straight line on a raised embankment that exposes itself to all the elements, especially the wind. In the past few days we have watched boats come down the canal as we call “crabbing” which means your boat progresses almost sideways as the wind catches the side of the boat and uses the side as a sail, and wants to pin you against one of the banks. The wind makes steerage very difficult.

Today I received two phone calls from people entering Castlefield basin with warnings of the wind strength and direction, as it was causing chaos amongst boaters. However, I am staying put, well anchored and roped up until Sunday afternoon when I hope this weather has moved south.

Tomorrow I am off to the Tatton park Vintage car rally with Roger that should be a good day out lets hope the weather changes,

At present I have no internet so this blog will just have to sit in cyber space until I can get on line

Speak Soon

Buggerlugs

Autumn

2010-08-16T20:15:00.006+01:00

Fishing Match left in peace

Thomas doing a Nelson he's just missing a spy glass and a patch

Hi Everyone

I don't know if its me or the weather, but today we left Anderton early even though we were under a clear blue sky and not a breath of wind there was a definite chill in the air. Also other signs are showing an early Autumn squirrels are very busy, in some areas they are on a feeding frenzy taking no notice of human activity around them, I have noticed already that the sloe berry, and blackberry are so ripe they are rotting on the bush, I believe that these are signs of a very hard winter (again) on the boat its very noticeable that the nights are getting very chilly we have had to light a few fires and that is before the end of August which is very sad.

We are now in Lyme we came in this afternoon and managed to moor 100 yards from the chippy, guess what we had for tea, its these little pleasure that you look forward too on the boat its not like at home where you can just nip out to the chippy when the mood takes you, but "by eck" they really taste better for the waiting. We should arrive at Noreen's dads tomorrow which will be a day early. Having had the new drive plate I have been extra careful though we made exceptional time today even with a stop for Diesel, Pump out and water we still made excellent progress.

Today whilst waiting to go through the Preston Brook tunnel. I noticed over on the far bank was a farm house, outside under the kitchen window were two chairs and stood on one of the chairs was a goat looking through the window, unfortunately by the time I had got my camera it had dismounted, then, when I put the camera away the goat mounted the chair again to look through the window, this happened twice more before I gave up trying to capture this phenomenon and let the goat to do its own thing.

Monday must be the new Sunday because we passed another three fishing matches, However all the anglers today were very nice and none of them hurled abuse, so I surmise that all the boats that had passed them today must have been good one who slow down and do the right thing, that makes it easier for the rest of us it only takes one bad boater to make it very unpleasant for the rest of us.

That's your lot for now

Keep smiling

Big Al

That's your lot today

Breakdown

2010-08-10T21:32:00.004+01:00

Boats awaiting to go into the cow shed?

Hi everyone
I am writing again with more tales of woe, On Thursday we developed a clanging noise in the gear box, we decided to ere on the side of caution and have an engineer look at it. Fortunately we were calling in at Swanley Marina for fuel and pump out so we asked their engineer to have a listen and he confirmed my suspicions and warned not to go further because something was seriously wrong. The engineer cannot do anything until Monday so we have taken a birth in the marina for a few days, here we are being well cared for we have electric hook up, water, pump out and a laundry, and TV the only thing is there are no shops for miles so we will have to rely on emergency rations.
I will let you know what the engineer finds on Monday but I believe it will either be a broken drive plate or a twisted drive shaft which is consistent with hitting a submerge object, of which on this trip there have been many.
On the bright side we are having a great rest because here there is nothing to do but rest.
We have been for a walk around today exploring the place its very strange, they have a spraying service and a blacking service but it is in the farm buildings check pics very odd place to work on a boat.

Its now Tuesday and my thoughts have been confirmed its a broken drive plate, things did not go according to plan the drive plate was a cow to get out but hey that's life we have a new one arriving tomorrow and the engineer will fit it and we should be on our way again. The engineer has been very kind he even took Noreen to Morrisons today (it will no doubt end up on the bill)

We need now to start making our way back we have to be in Manchester for next Thursday as we have to go Rogers mums funeral Roger is on his way from Aus and we are all meeting up at Noreen's Dads

keep Smiling everyone

Buggerlugs

We are on the return Journey

2010-08-03T20:21:00.003+01:00

ELLSEMERE

We have had five good days in Ellesmere, as I said in the last blog we managed to get just on the arm were most of the foot traffic have to pass your boat which was great for sales I almost ran out, I had a couple of small pots and a few wooden spoons left, Maryanne took me on a shopping trip to replenish stocks, now I have a lot of painting to do to get the shop looking like something again. Maryanne and I even went to a car boot on Sunday morning at Chirk it was huge! At least 300 stalls and 1000s of people plus car parking was free. We did very well at the stalls I managed to get some great bargains, I don’t know what it is but I just love car boots I am always amazed at what people will try and sell
Sat we spent the day at Maryanne’s were we did our big shop, Noreen had a bath or I should say a two hour soak I got the use of the garage and managed to get all my spraying done so now I can start the painting, the spraying is the worst and takes most of the time but using the garage it makes it so much easier and quicker than doing it on the canal bank.
Today Monday we have moved off down to the Montgomery canal its only 7 miles long as they have not completed the restoration work yet but its very pretty and its another canal we have done. Tomorrow we turn around and start the long melancholy return journey back to Rufford it’s a tedious journey not only because this years trip is coming to and end but the return trip is over ground that we have already covered, one pleasing aspect is you never know what’s around the corner after all this is Buggerlugs.

2010-07-29T21:57:00.000+01:00

Begining of the arm looking towars Tesco and the town

End of the arm at Elsmere on the turning circle

We are here in Elsmere, we arrived yesterday and have met up with Maryanne and Gregg. We have managed to acquire the same mooring that we had last year, second one in on the arm this means I can reverse out instead of trying the turn around at the head of the arm. It has become very busy now that tesco's is at the top of the arm everyone comes here to shop its so conveinient. Noreen and I can't get use to the comings and goings the early boats start leaving as early as 6.30am and they are still coming in at 21.00hrs some go all the way down the arm just to shop which I feel is stupid as its very difficult to get past the moored boats and even worse to turn your boat at the end, when they could moor on the main line and just walk the 200yards to the shop. luckily its a 72 hr mooring though most only stay the one night, but that is norm as most boats are hire boats and the holiday makers only have a limited time to do what ever they want to do its mainly people like ourselves who have plenty of time to laze about who use the am as a rest stop rather than a shop stop.
This is our time to catch up Noreen is having a hair cut, I am busy polishing the boat and doing the repairs that didn't get done at Buxworth because of the rain. I have done very well on the paintings in fact I have no watering cans left I have sold out. I have to replenish my stock. Maryanne is taking me a car boot on Sunday so I hope to replenish my stock.
I was fishing this evening when kids on the boat next to us were intrigued with the concept of fishing so it finished up with lending all the spare rods out and showing dads daughters and sons how to fish we all had a great time and it really made us think about why we love this life.
Speak soon

Big Al

2010-07-26T20:14:00.006+01:00

No lack of water on the Maccesfield Canal

Twin side by side locks on the Trent and Mersey at Kidsgrove

Thomas Dad and a Dragon at the Buxton Carnival

Hi Everyone

Buxworth basin is at the end of the Peak Forest canal; a terminus, dead end. At one time over 250 people worked there loading lime stone on to the barges from the adjacent quarries, or working in the many lime kilns that ran along the canal. The work was manually hard and living conditions like so many in the era 1800 were very basic.
However today the renovation is complete and Bosworth is now a quiet corner of Derbyshire were you can either admire the wild life or sit and imagine what it was like 200 years ago, I prefer the latter.
We spent a very nice weekend in Bosworth Mat Lorraine and Thomas came to celebrate my birthday and play postman with all the cards.9which I thank everyone) Saturday we all caught the bus to Buxton to watch the Buxton festival. However, this time the bus journey was quite uneventful nothing like the last time we came. The festival was great, lots of floats and fun though the weather was its usual temperamental self and waited until all the floats were in the middle of town when the heavens opened. I really felt sorry for all the kids getting really soaked, but it didn’t seem to bother anyone the show went on as if it was brilliant sunshine.
We had decided to leave on Monday morning and meet Carol and Keith in Marple, However on Sunday evening I was asked if on Monday morning I would paint the back and side panels on a boat as a commission, and you know I never turn work down, a quick call to Keith to change the venue from Marple to Bosworth and all was on track. The job only took 2½ hours so I was back in plenty of time for lunch Keith brought his sister-in-law and husband so we all had a very sociable afternoon.
Leaving Bosworth on Tuesday, we cruised down to Marple through some very heavy showers, moored overnight in Marple and now we are in Bollington. Tomorrow we will hit the first set of locks for Noreen lets hope her arms is fit for purpose and holds up. She is determined to do it so I have relented to let her try.
Nothing much else to report, the canal seems to be filling up but it is still very low so much so that this morning I had a hard job getting moving, overnight we seemed to have been sucked into the mud and the rudder had become jammed on something, but a lot of forward and reverse, rocking and swearing and we were off again. We are missing all our friends, the lack of water seems to have split everyone up, lots have just run for their mooring before the canals get closed but now with the influx of water we all may get chance to meet up soon.

That’s your lot

Keep smiling

Buggerlugs

Saturday July 24th

I am sorry for the lack of news but honesty this is pathetic it’s been almost a week now without Internet I am getting withdrawal symptoms.
So Far! We did the first lock system on our own yesterday, the Bosley flight all 12 of them Noreens wrist seems to be holding up, luckily we all the locks are down until we turn onto the Llangolen (tomorrow) so that means that I can assist in closing the lock and opening one of the gate paddles which makes live easier.
Today we have joined the throng of holiday boaters even though we started at 07.00 we still got caught by them don’t get me wrong they are ok and they are all happy and enjoying themselves but most are very slow But! Like us, they are on holiday and why should they rush, the only thing that really bothers me is the way the fool around in the locks it is so dangerous especially for the kids.
We are now moored on the Trent and Mersey having joined it at Red Bull Basin Kidsgrove were the a Maccasfield goes under the Trent and Mersey, we are resting up for the day, as we will be getting an early start tomorrow the hire boats don’t wake until 10 we will have done three hours by then and will be looking for looking for moorings
I hope that by tomorrow night we should be on the middlewich branch heading towards the Llangolen.

Sunday
That’s it the going down hill is over; today we turned the corner on to the Shropshire canal. Since we left Bugsworth last Tuesday we have dropped nearly 1000ft through 47 locks over 60 miles , and now its all up hill towards Elsmere on the Llangolen Canal where we are meeting up with Maryanne. Today was a hard slog, the locks were quite a distance apart that means stopping and starting and you can’t get a rhythm going??? The canal is getting very busy now that the kids are off school, but it’s nice to see so many people enjoying themselves as much as we are. But some people idea of boating are very strange, they moor in the most ludicrous of places what we need on the canal is double yellow lines they moor in front of bridges, locks, bends, and even narrows, most accept your advice and move and even thank you for putting the straight but there are always the holiday experts. Being Sunday we had to cruise through at least three fishing matches again most of the anglers accept we have to pass but again we always get the niggley old sod who thinks the canal was built just for him.

Monday
Today has been a very busy day we had to take on water, diesel, Gas and have a pump out we also did 12 locks and cruised an extra 3 hours more than the schedule. All that through driving rain gale force winds and no oil in the gearbox, The rain was real Belthorn rain; sideways or right in your face, oh! How we love boating at least when the weather is bad its only real boaters who travel in it (or just the idiots, you judge)
In addition, I have been able to get on line and get this published.

Buggerlugs

Monday 26 July 2010

Manchester to Buxworth

2010-07-15T19:40:00.008+01:00

Under Piccadilly, all the paining in the world cannot hide the smell

One of the very awkward locks at the end of Canal Street in Manchester. Note the lack of gate beam, because of the lack of space the lock has to be opened and closed useing a winder and chains. ( not the things to be involved with on Canal street)

Going towards Piccadilly

Out in the open air Away from the city

Yellow Wagtail on the beam of lock 15 Marple (the lock goes under the main road)

Well we arrived in Manchester on Sunday evening after spending a very nice quiet weekend at Noreen’s dads, the whole weekend went very quietly except for me doing an engine service, this time I did manage to get the right filters and everything went according to plan.
Manchester or Castlefield basin is always a buzzing place to be, they had big scenes up for the world cup; Manchester having its fair share of Spanish and Dutch it was a fantastic atmosphere. In the afternoon, Thomas arrived and we all went to the MOSI (museum of science and industry) great time Thomas was awe struck with the planes and old cars but not too bothered about the Lego exhibition as he wasn't allowed to play with the displays. Sunday evening Danny arrived to help us through to Marple.
Monday morning arrived damp and drizzly, and a canal littered with dutch hats and rubber clogs from a very disgruntled Dutch supporters, so we set off to conquer the Manchester eight locks, as Normal they were a bitch I know I moan a lot but anyone who has attempted those locks knows what I am talking about, having conquered the eight it was time to face the Ashton canal under normal circumstances the canal is shallow but the locks are easy, so its not too difficult.
However yesterday everything was against us, the canal was very short of water and in places we actually had to tow the boat, in one lock there was not enough water to let me in the chamber so we had to tow it out and then get water down from the upper lock this process we had to repeat at every lock. We set off at 07.45 and moored up last night at 19.45 a very long day. Tuesday we tackled the Marple flight but we had extra crew as Rach joined us Monday night in Ashton we were going to moor in Ashton but there was a massive row going on between two boaters about mooring, something that is unusual; it was just that people had had a very bad day and tempers were getting frayed, we just moved on and found a quieter place to moor, after a hard day you can not cope with petty squabbles. The Marple flight was the same as the Ashton, the same happened here just not enough water to fill the locks. Because of the water shortage, traveling is becoming very slow and very hazardous job.
We arrived in Marple and wondered what to do next; we have just heard about the Leeds and Liverpool but cannot find out that 60 miles between Wigan and Gargrave are being closed. Not that it matters we cannot get there anyway if things get any worse we may have to find a mooring near by. We are meeting people all the time that are worse off than we are at least we are not tied to any time scale. Some people are trying to get back to get to work.
I am as normal very optimistic and hoping we get enough rain and water this weekend to get us moving again.
Its Thursday night and we are now in Buxsworth Basin we can hang around here for a few days and take stock of the situation do a few running repairs and enjoy my birthday.
All this sounds very daunting and dangerous but its not, it is all part of boating, we are still enjoying it and finding these little difficulties a new challenge. ???????

Keep smiling and when it starts pouring down this weekend please don't moan We really need the wet stuff

God bless keep smiling

Buggerlugs

We are on the move again

2010-07-08T18:01:00.006+01:00

Eureka Noreen's plaster is off

We went to Leighton hospital (Crew) last Monday and they decided to whip it off she feels so much better now its off, Noreen will be a few weeks yet before she is back to normal but we are getting there.

Tuesday we had Keith Carol and Danny over for the day, we had a great day us lads spent the day catching loads of fish and Carol and Noreen hit the shops. its always a great day with "our kid" So Wednesday we slipped our mooring and ready to leave the Weaver, the river had been a good friend over the past few weeks and we have really enjoyed it but now Noreen is free of the plaster its time to continue our wanderings, We set off at 08.30 and by 10.30 we had sailed to the lift risen up to the canal filled up with diesel done two loads of washing two loads of drying and filled up with water, it was one of those days when everything seemed to go our way and by 15.45 we had moored up the other side of Preston brook a real good day

We are now making our way up to Manchester then on to Bugsworth basin, we will spend a few days with Tom in Stretford then pick up Danny and Rach in Manchester to crew for us up the Manchester flight and then the Marple flight so stayed tuned this could be fun, the last time we did this trip it was chaos all the way.

Keep tuned all of you things will pick up from here on

Keep smiling

Big Al

Carol taking a well earned rest

Keith and Danny trying to catch bigger fish than me

Carols Fish (she refused to hold it)

Very Quiet

2010-07-04T21:06:00.004+01:00

Thomas Flighing high

Hi All

Well this will have to stop because yet again we have had a beautiful weekend and I have nothing to complain about, which as you all know is one of the great delights in my life.
Yesterday we had Thomas it was also the Nothwich Carnival weekend including a fair ground
Thomas had a fantastic time going on all the rides that would take him I am afraid that a three year old does not the conception that "size does matter" but he had a great time, they also had the crowning of the rose queen which even now I am still attempting to understand what was going on there was last years Queen this years queen and next years prospective queens all with a dozen ladies in waiting I think every girl in Northwich had a had in it still it was very colourful as was the strongest man competition I was going to take part but I have a bad back at the moment and I was not going to show off in front of all those queens?
Today started with a trip to the car boot it was awful just utter junk I now believe that all the good stuff that use to be on the car boots has gone, I am always on the look out for brass items and things to paint but today was not my lucky day.
This afternoon we were invited out for Sunday lunch to Geoff and Marjorie's along with Silvia and Alan lovely meal great company and a great afternoon, its strange that with good friends you may not see them that often but you soon get into that easy relaxed atmosphere that only good friends experience. As I find with you lot.
Noreen is off to the hospital again tomorrow I will let you all know the outcome keep your fingers crossed for a good result.
We have been here that long that we have become apart of the community here at Northwich. People stop and say good morning and have a chat even the locals now chat to us as if we have been here years and it feels like it I can't wait to be on the move again Though no matter what I will have to go up the lift onto the canal on Tues as I have no diesel left.
I must apologise for the lack of news or interesting items to submit but it is very quiet here Northwich is not a hive of cosmopolitan thinking but I would call it quaint.

So that's your lot for now

God Bless

Buggerlugs

some pictures

2010-06-30T20:48:00.007+01:00

Instead of talking of visitors I thought I would let you see what we are up to and the places we go.

Waking up to a view like this everyday

Devils Garden Mooring

Frodsham Viaduct

Weaver Navigation

5.30am waking to a mist on the water

Sun set at Vale Royal

5 boats in Vale Lock

Old Tug in Hunts lock

Moored at Hunts Lock

Have a nice day

Buggerlugs

Great Weekend

2010-06-27T14:19:00.003+01:00

Thomas's fish best of the weekend

This is a nice Bream from last week

Hi what a great weekend

We thought we had left the heat and sun behind in Australia but today it has been as hot here as any we had over there. "By ek its ot" This weekend we had the company of Mat, Lorraine and Thomas this wekend,
The mooring here in Nothwitch is fantastic the shops are only mins away, as is the water and pump out point, the moorings are safe and quiet, we have just done a weekend no trouble sat night and no problems when England lost to Germany. Also the fishing is quite good. So all in all its been a very good weekend.
The tepmerature at night has been unbearable we have had to have all the hatches open on the boat now there are not many moorings were I would feel safe enough to do that. I am not complaining about the weather though its very nice to be able to sit out side, drink, eat and fish untill 22.30, without even a shirt on "but that fish slime makes a mess on the hairs on my chest". Talking of fish Thomas caught the biggest of the weekend, much to the anoyance of his dad; though with the looks on their faces I do not know who was the proudest Matthew or Thomas.
We are now going to get some deisel top up with water and then head on up to hunts lock until thursday when we will return here so Noreen can go to the hospital for a check up on her arm.

Be good be kind

God Bless

Buggerlugs

Bad Day

2010-06-18T15:38:00.003+01:00

the crew

Thuresday
Thanks to Marjorie and Geoff for helping with the last six locks through Middlewich Marjorie dropped Geoff off at the boat then took Noreen off for a trip around town. Geoff and I managed the last locks that seemed to be endless because of the amount of canal traffic we had to queue at every lock. we eventually managed to get to big lock which is the last one before Wigan here we met the girls for a well earned pub lunch
Friday
You all must have had one of these days, Before I set out in a morning I normally have a vague Ida of what I would like to achiev to be or even do. today I had mainly three objections one to get a pump out, two get down onto the Weaver, three arrive at the very nice caravan site we stayed at last year. Object number one, set out early 07.30 in order to get the pump out and arrive on the mooring for going down to the Weaver by 09.00 The pump out station was out of order "again" this I thought would no be a problem as we can get a pump out at Northwich on the Weaver. So having nothing to do we arrived at the mooring for the lift an hour early, eventually we were ushered onto the lift though the boat we were going down with was 5 mins late more hanging around, we were directed as usual into the chamber only to be told that the electrician had been checking things out and done something wrong now the whole thing was out of action.
it took 90mins to discover that a fuse had blown, now every one knows that electrics are not my forte but come on a bloody fuse. Also you all know that I am an affable type of chap and will talk to anyone however we shared the lock with some Australian woman who insisted on giving me a potted history of the English canal system and guides on how to handle my boat. I had this for the hour we were stuck in the lift, But you will be very proud of me as I did not tell her to shut her big Aussie Gob as she was talking a load of sh---- So we were now eventually going to get
Now that sounds bad against all my Australian friends Who are some of the most generous, helpful, unassuming people on this planet but you always get the bad apple spoiling it for the rest just like our binge drinkers in Spain, the world has all Brits as beer swilling slobs just because of a few. Now moving and away from Mrs Matilda and her runaway mouth.
As there are no speed limits on the weaver I left Anderton at a breakneck speed, hoping to get a pump out at Northwich. It now no longer exists, by this time I was on top note ready to explode, We now had two locks to negotiate which we did without incident.
We motored on to the caravan site and arrived about 3.30pm only to find that it had not only gone down hill in the past year but almost disappeared the beautiful manicured lawns had now become toilets for the geese which meant walking around the mooring was like walking on an ice rink Anyway here we are and to be honest I am too tired to be bothered moving.

I have had one of those days you want to forget.

Some pics of our last crew member's I could not get on last time

Be good

Buggerlugs

Birmingham to Wolverhampton

2010-06-14T15:30:00.002+01:00

Hi Again
At last we are out of the midlands, Noreen and I set off on our own to do the 14 miles and three locks to Wolverhampton, quite an easy trip wide canal and easy to handle locks even single handed. by doing this it meant that when Danny and Rach join us at Wolverhampton we would have gained a day and the three days they are with us we can make Nantwich.
Staying two days in Wolverhampton was a bit of an experience, trying to find the supermarket was the hard part, normally we just ask the first person we see however in Wolverhampton trying to find an English speaking person was harder than finding the shop Noreen even tried pointing at this woman's Salisbury's bag and throwing her had (she can only use one) air in a gesture of unknowing bewilderment but even that had no response I tried my best Russian and Swahili but that didn't work But as usual I would have to ask the English speaking man who was a complete nerd and insisted on giving us a potted history of the place whilst guiding us through a labyrinth of alleyways, but it did find us a supermarket.
Danny and Rach joined us on Saturday night (whilst waiting for them at the station I was propositioned But I said even though I was flattered I was two weeks behind at home and would have to decline her offer)
Sunday morning we were up early and hit the first locks with a Noreen in charge of her second novice crew we were going great guns at 7 mins a lock until we hit lock 12 when the BW man told us the pound was empty and we would have to slow down whist he got some water down, that was the only real incident on the trip except for the afternoon rain that came down in buckets eventually I gave up, we moored up just the other side of Norbury had a lovely dinner and then went fishing Rach caught her first fish and then another 7 a very pleasant evening.
Again today was a early start but it has worked out well as we have got an early finish added to the fact I can get on the Internet her. We are now just below the Audlem flight which we will in he morning then it is on into Natwich a very remarkable three days sail.
Noreen's arm is becoming a Bone of contention as she keeps trying to use it so we are having a few altercations over it not long now before the pot is off.

Keep smiling

Buggerlugs

Pic to Follow

2010-06-14T14:27:00.004+01:00

Maryanne with all the work infront of her

Old Broken Wing

This is out of date it was wrote when we were in Birmingham but now we are just outside Nantwich I will do a catch up tonight (hopefully)

Warwick to Birmingham

Right we are back in Birmingham
Maryanne arrived on Friday in fact I just realised that she has become our “Girl Friday”
We pulled out of our of our long stay mooring in Warwick with some sorrow for we had made some nice friends there who either walk their dog or kids to school, and our now friends over at Kate Boats, But onward now to Birmingham this is a journey of 30 miles and 51 locks which in canal language is 30+51=81 81over 3= 27 hrs we did it in 20 knocking of 7hrs not bad and I did not break the speed limit (the canal is so shallow you couldn’t)
I want to sing my praise to our, when starting out novice crew yet on completion experienced crew Maryanne she has been promoted to first mate. It was a long and grueling trek, yesterday was the better of the two days as we went through some very nice country and the Hatton flight of 23 locks are very very nice. We also joined up with another boat crewed by a girl about Maryanne’s age which made the flight a lot easier than doing it by yourself. Noreen insisted on doing her bit and managed to give instruction and swing open the lock gates, these need a certain knack of balancing weight against water a knack learnt from swinging hundreds of gates.
We stayed last night at a place called Catherine-de-Barnes this sits on the outskirts of Solihull, which to us is on the outskirts of no return. I remember going through here on the way out it is definitely hostile country or as we use to say in Ireland Bandit country.
To that end I decided to get a very early start and as the first locks were 2 hours away I set off at 06.30 leaving the rest of the crew a few hours extra kip, like all generals I was very pleased that my battle plan worked and caught all the little scrotes sleeping Saturday off and we had a clear run. Though I do despair BW (with the help of my license fee) have made an excellent job of providing the inhabitants of Solihull a though fare of green natural history full of fauna and flora for all to enjoy. Yet the inhabitants of this fare town seem to have lost the idea of this beauty that has been bestowed upon them, it has become a place to let you Dog Sh—anywhere it wants, a place to discard that old arm chair or loose leave table, mattresses and why take cans, bottles, oil drums, chip trays, and plastic bags home when the good old BW has provided you with such a huge depository for them. It is a pity we missed the Solihull festival of throwing the Christmas tree in the cut Oh what a colourful occasion that must be. I thank the inhabitants of this crappy place for making me stop three times to clear the Prop of bloody rubbish. Oh if you have recently lost a cat, dog, chicken, favorite parrot you will no doubt find it floating upside down in the grand union canal Solihull. Though saying all that this state of affairs is only aprox 3 miles out of the thirty traveled.
Yet here we are only 15 miles away from that pit called Solihull in the centre of Birmingham that is clean, save and very lively. Two worlds apart
The last set of locks coming into Birmingham had been painted overnight, which meant you could not get anywhere near them without getting covered in paint, the quote of the day was the lock keeper saying to Maryanne “do you always have wet paint on your trousers or is that off the locks” Next move is to make Wolverhamton on our own single handed I only have three locks but this will give us three days of Danny and Rach and that should then get us through to Nantwich which will be great.

Broken wing

2010-06-01T16:06:00.003+01:00

Noreen seeing the funny side (I wish I could)

Catastrophic News

Noreen was away at school camp this weekend Teaching the arts of Canoeing, Abseiling, Orienteering, Gorge walking and the more realistic of craft of,, Wrist Breaking! or Practical First Aid
Yes, Noreen has managed to break her wrist. Apparently, Noreen was just walking through a stile when she slipped on wet grass and that was that, one broken Wrist. Having been carried off to the hospital and being covered in plaster she, like the stalwart, she is carried on and came home with the kids yesterday. Matthew brought her back to the boat last night; we considered that the train journey would just be too much even for Noreen.
So now Noreen is know as broken wing or the Kentuckian.
It will take at least 6 weeks before Noreen can use the wrist to any degree, so we have decided to return to base and maybe go out again towards the end of the summer. Now this throws up even more problems it takes two to crew the boat. Oh I know all you boaters will be saying you can do single handed, and I have done locks by myself. However with a knee that will not bend climbing in and out of locks is not the safest way to travel and I do safety first. To that end Maryanne is coming to crew us back to Birmingham and then Danny and Rachel are coming to crew us beyond Wolverhampton after that we will have to see.
Noreen has a hospital appointment on Friday they will decide then if it needs plating or not, so keep your fingers crossed. Hanging around in Warwick is not so bad it is a very nice place to be hold up so we will just have to make the best of it. I am doing the best I can looking after Noreen, the cooking, cleaning, shopping, Ironing, Washing and boat maintenance, But I will cope, I can here you all now saying or-----r poor little bugger.

So! if anyone wants a few days’ holiday on the good ship Buggerlugs and feel like doing it bit of crewing and doing a few locks give us a ring, all I can offer is bloody good food and drinks

I will keep you all informed of Noreen’s progress

Keep her in your prayers

Buggerlugs.

Warwick

2010-05-26T19:31:00.005+01:00

Hi All

Today we have walked miles Firstly we went for a walk around Warwick its a very ancient old town with lots of history and very very old buildings, naturally being an ancient town it is build on a hill and big hill but it was very very nice, Then this afternoon we walked into Leamington Spa I need 10 litres of engine oil I never new just how heavy that stuff is especially when you have to walk 2 miles back I am glad I took the day pack otherwise I would have had arms like a Gibbon.
So all in all I think we have done at least eight miles walking today.

Tomorrow after Noreen has departed I am going to service the boat I am doing it here because there is a boat yard opposite just in case I need anything else. Friday I am moving off here to the other side of Royal Leamington Spa its going to be very quiet out there so I may practice the guitar (I need to)

Whilst we were in Warwick we stumbled upon an old Hospital not the hospital in the medical sense but in the old use of the word meaning a home for disabled soldiers, very much like Chelsea Hospital though this place pre dates Chelsea by 200 years, its a fantastic place built in 1571 on top of an existing building then 150 years old. Today it is occupied still by old soldiers but now with wives, after our tour were talking as one does and we were actually offered a place

it all sounds very nice and something we will have to think about as we get towards old age.

Check the place out www.lordleycester.com. and see if you imagine me in that uniform??

Speak soon Big Al

The Lord Leycester Hospital Warwick

Haton Locks

Just before Warick it has a shop and a museum. The nicest Locks I have come accross

BIRMINGHAM

2010-05-24T21:07:00.005+01:00

Birmingham Gas Street

Hi everyone

Yesterday we discovered Birmingham the bull ring Market just like Leeds last year it is like a trip round the world fantastic produce. the buildings and architecture are like Manchester really well kept and they have the most fantastic War Memorial.

Well we left Birmingham on Saturday morning ready to get onto the Grand Union Canal, now the sound of it intimates wide deep canals Well words can be deceiving its narrow, shallow, sticks, full of rubbish and very badly maintained, we suffered this all day Saturday even doing 16 locks at these I had to get the boat hook out and shift the rubbish before I could get the boat in the lock. we kept going all day I spent 7hrs on the tiller tyring to find a decent safe mooring, we eventually moored up late afternoon we were knackered. Sunday we started again we very rarely travel on the weekend but to be honest we had only seen 4 other boats all day yesterday so it was not going to be busy, about 2 hours into the trip the canal widened bridges became wider and the locks became doubles, and things became much much nicer. It is now Monday and we are in Warwick were I am staying whilst Noreen goes back to Blackburn to take the school kids on Safari to Yorkshire. Noreen has a passport and is qualified in the language and customs of that county.

I am being left here to do a full engine service. paint the roof, do some random maintenance, and try to keep myself fed whilst the real boss is away.

We came down 22 locks at Haton today they were really really nice well worth a stop over but today it was just too hot yes I will say that again too hot when I filled up with water I sprayed the top of the boat and scalded myself too blood hot.

That's your lot folks

Buggerlugs signing off

Wolverhamton to Birmingham

2010-05-24T13:20:00.001+01:00

Wolverhamton & Birmingham

Tuesday

Today we set sail for Wolverhamton we spent last night on a good mooring at Napton Boats at the autherley Junction good mooring but do not ask the staff at Napton Boats for anything they are rude, unhelpful and particularly thick. Having left the mooring we had first to climb the 21 locks of the first stage of the journey. The locks are only about 2 miles long, however by the time Noreen had prepared one lock the walk to set the next one, then walked back to close the first one she must have walk a good 5 miles I however only had the job of getting the boat in the lock out of the lock and controlling the flow, we soon reached a rhythm and we were through locks in about 3 hours making it 9 mins per lock including the distance between them.
We are now settled in a safe mooring only 200 yards from the main Wolverhampton railway station. The mooring is just through the first bridge on the right, its very nice with a little garden and good path however when BW put it in they omitted to put in any form of access which meant we couldn't’t get off but no one could get on i.e. making it very secure. On the way up, the locks we did not see another boat in fact we have only seen four boats all day. I am beginning to wonder just how bad is this depression the government say we out of is, everyone I speak to from all sections of society whether they be people you meet at a lock, people who own ₤120,000 luxury boats, pensioners getting around in there little boat or people just trying to have a holiday they all have one thing in common they are broke, and being very careful with money, and all complaining of inequality, injustice and immigration. I believe that traveling around we get a good solid opinion and the opinion is not good. However, we all believe in tomorrow and it will get better.
Tomorrow we set out for Birmingham it’s a good 5hrs away and the map is very confusing, unlike the rest of the country were we have one city one canal Birmingham has about ten canals I see now why the call it “Little Venice” I just hope we can find our way through the labyrinth of canals and make Broad street Basin in the heart of the city.
Birmingham “ if the world had piles that were it would be” that was a common adage in the 70s but what a transformation We are in a nice mooring in the centre at Broad street just opposite the Sea Life Centre I was a bit concerned last night as we are surrounded by Clubs Pubs Bistro’s and Restaurants I really was expecting trouble but be 23.00 hrs the whole place had closed down and we got a good nights sleep, all boaters should come for a couple of days today we spent today exploring the new Birmingham, good shops, great architecture And quite nice people. Noreen stopped to sit on a bench in the middle of New Street she left her hand bag behind on the bench it must have been ten minutes before we noticed it missing when we got back to the bench there was a lady sat there guarding it awaiting Noreen’s return as I said great people.
Tomorrow we set off again this time towards Warwick that is about two or three days we have decided to moor up in Warwick whilst Noreen goes off to School camp
We have another 21 locks tomorrow to get us to the other side of Birmingham so wish us luck and hopefully I can post this tomorrow night, as I have no Internet here
\
We have no visitors this weekend so we are going to quite lonely

Early Bath

2010-05-16T16:31:00.007+01:00

Spotted in the tree this morning

Tavern Wharf

Hi everyone

We have spent the weekend here at Tavern Wharf about three miles south of Market Drayton, its a very nice setting with good moorings and a very nice bar/restaurant across the bridge; it's very very busy and has two caravan sites on each side of the road. I remember Alan and I went for a pint there last year and it took us twenty minutes to get to the bar so this year we gave it a miss, anyway our kid brought me some " G & T in a can" so who needs a pub.
As I said this weekend we have had Carol and Keith with us, they arrive on Friday afternoon. We have really enjoyed their company, and they do not mind loosing party games?? Kieth and I had a great time fishing on Friday and caught a good mixed bag. But Saturday was somewhat a disappointment that is until the afternoon. We spotted coming towards us a little plastic cruiser being tow by two blokes and a lady they gently negotiated a BW tug moored just in front of us by passing the tow lines over the top then it was our turn as they approached Keith and I just looked at each other in disbelieve. Keith's curiosity got the better of him and ask "what the bloody hell are you doing" remember Keith's from Hyde and does not mince words.
anyway after a little discussion we found out that the boat had broke down and was being hand towed to its mooring that was just opposite our boat. It was decided that I would lend them my pole which is a long one (not bragging here) and one would go on the boat and punt it across
Now that task of punting was assigned to one of the men who I must admit looked a bit apprehensive. Now the fun started the man who was going to do the punting was also holding the forward line keeping the boat in to the bank. he decided whilst still holding the forward line to get on the boat ( this is like sawing the branch you are sat on) and yes you have it has he started to put one foot on the boat it started to move away from the bank, and concluded in the longest splits I have ever seen in my life for a man of aging years, eventually the inevitable happened but instead of realising his fete and jumping upright for the bank he just held in there until gravity took over and tipped him side ways into the watery abyss. Now the lady that was him sprang into action and whilst we were onlooking in disbelieve she had darted in and hauled him out she must have lifted close on 16 stone including water, All this happened in about 45 seconds
but it was one of those occasions we have all experienced that moved in slow motion.
I decided to take control of the boat and gently pushed it across the canal to a waiting owner as I found out the man that had just taken an early bath was not the owner just a very helpful boater.
Well it made our day and when everyone had gone from earshot we had a great laugh I know we shouldn't and that we all fall in and it is a terrible experience but I just hope that the next time I fall in I give as much pleasure as that man did.
The rest of the weekend was an anti climax as nothing could top that but it has been a great weekend with lots to remember and laugh about
Thanks to Keith & Carol for taking us shopping we were able to stock up on bulky items its a great help
We are now off to Birmingham and hope to be on the other side before Noreen goes off to summer camp .

That's All for now

Buggerlugs

God and his Rain

2010-05-13T11:29:00.004+01:00

Rain

Yesterday we were told that the canal was short of water and that traveling up the 20 locks of the Audlem fight might be a little difficult. Apparently, the rain is either, not enough, not in the right place or not the right type of rain, either way the canal was low. So when you empty the upper lock into the lower lock you leave the "pound" the water between the two locks very low. Now multiply that by 20 locks and you start to get problems.
So as always we put our trust in God and asked for a little help with extra water? Please.
Whilst the rest of the world was sleeping I heard my prayer being answered and the tell tail pitapata of rain on the roof, now all I had to decide was, is it the right type, in the right place and was it enough. Only the dawn would tell. As we awoke I said a quick thank you to him upstairs and said OK God you can stop now we have plenty, the canal is full the plants are well watered the cattle have plenty of moist grass and all the underground wells are full. OK big Al said God that's all right I’ll send a bit more for good luck!
And he did, in the style of a heavy, very heavy down pour, after 2 hours I said OK God thanks that’s great we enough now for the whole summer, Best be sure said God I will send just a little bit more to be on the safe side,
And he did, but this time in the style of hail, sleet and thunder, by this time I was beginning to lose my faith, God and I were starting to fall out. OK God! that’s fantastic everyone has plenty now, the canal is flooded the birds have gone in, the cows have only soggy grass to eat, the sewers are flooded and spewing raw sewage into the street and Noreen and are Pi—ed wet through to our undies. So if it is all the same to you turn the bloody tap off, send the rest to frigin Ireland they seem to like rain. And it came to pass then after 5 hours of torrential rain, hail, sleet and thunder, as soon as we moored up for the day it Stopped. thank you God
The Moral of this story is, be very careful what you pray for, always give a quantity and never leave it for God to decide how much.

20 locks in the appalling weather, not only was it wet, very wet it was bloody freezing; someone told me this is the pleasure of boating??
We have now made Market Drayton and are going to wait here until Keith and Carol arrive on Friday

No Pictures of this leg as the camera got wet along with everything else.

Big Al

Marbury Merry days Country Fayer

2010-05-08T21:30:00.006+01:00

Raiding Vikings (though the little one at the back looks like one of my ex Officers)

Big man little engine

Saxon Tent

Albion ( before my time )

Hi All

This weekend Lorraine Mat and Thomas joined us. We have had yet another lovely weekend in spite of the weather, Today we went to the Marbury fete, the fete is organised by the village council who do a very good job of and all money raised goes to the parish church. today they had the reenactment of the Vikings raiding a English village very amateurish but great fun to watch and the reenactor's do it with the greatest of enthusiasm and really take on the roles seriously.
there was steam engines, Newfoundland Dog display, Vintage cars, vans and Motorbikes,
I'm not keen on the vintage vehicles as there was one car and one bike that I had owned ?? and it really gives your ego a boot to see them in the vintage section. Thomas loved sitting on the old tractors in fact it was very difficult to get him off it the rain hadn't started again we may have still been there.
But the best display was the puppet show, as usual the kids sat there uninterested and all the adults were doing the shouting "he's behind you" Thomas enjoyed it but wanted to smack the naughty bad wolf.
As it was a village fete it rained, I have come to the conclusion that just like test matches rain is part and parcel of any British Village Fete and we should never moan its all part of the fun??

Keep smiling

Big Al

Quiet afternoon

2010-05-06T21:20:00.003+01:00

Yesterday we moored up at a lovely spot called Bramble cuttings enven the name sounds tranquil, for an afternoon of fishing, reading and in general doing nothing as boaters do before gin time. We were sitting enjoying the sunny afternoon as the morning had been quite wet When! we were rammed by a boat containing four young men of indistinct reputation.
At the helm was a young man, who in my opinion and the opinion of boaters moored to my stern was in fact drunk or if not drunk certainly not in charge of all his faculties, was skippering the offending craft.
The bend at Bramble cuttings is very slow and gentle he had however managed to ram our boat broadside, the first impact managed to rip away one of our fenders. the poor unfortunate youth seemed unable to understand his left from right or forward and reverse the young mans brain must be one of those that work in reverse. After the first ramming another young man took over the helm and managed to get the bow out of my boat, having achieved this the second idiot gave the tiller and throttle to the original idiot who proceeded to have another go and rammed me for a second time this dislodging a fishing rod from the roof of my boat. A boater moored to my rear came to assistance and together we managed to push the offending boat back to the centre of the canal were yet another member of the crew took the tiller and guided it away from our moored boats and rammed it into the opposite bank were upon it came to an abrupt halt in the muddy bank, unfortunatly spilling them and thier beer across the length and breath of the boat.
When we challenged them about their inadequacies on boat handling, we were given abuse and told to “get over it, It’s only a boat. at this outrageous remark about dearly beloved Buggerlugs, I offered, as is my right to arrange the young mans teeth so he could eat his next meal through his Bum, this seem to upset the rest of his crew who were just picking themselves of the deck of their now stranded boat, by this time many boaters had come to my aid most were offering to hold my coat but a few of the adventurous ones or those who had had an afternoon on the gin were rolling up their selves and wanting to get stuck in. However as by this time there was a good amount of water between us and the offending crew the likely hood of a "gun fight at the OK corral"seemed very remote
We the Innocent ones decided now to just sit back and watch the motley crew extradite their now very stranded mud bound boat " there is a very easy way to get a boat of a mud bank that all boaters know but why spoil our fun" after almost 30mins of our side laughing and the opposing team sweating, swearing, heaving and towing we said goodbye to a now far more sober and quieter crew.

This is just to point out that not every day is peace and tranquility

Sorry no pictures
News Blackout

Big Al

2010-05-03T19:18:00.006+01:00

Well what a weekend, we managed to get down onto the weaver were we spent a lovely weekend, Saturday Noreen and I went to Northwich by bus, surprisingly the bus journey to Northwich was quite uneventful? we even managed to get to the right side of the road. Northwich in my opinion is a one eyed country town, I was really expecting something quite unique with pretty avenues and expensive dress shops, but just like many other small towns the reality is far from the myth. the town is full of charity shops and inferior cafes, However the indoor market was very well stocked especially the vege and plant stalls. so after a very disappointing trip to Northwich we returned to the boat.

Maryanne came on Sunday morning and decided to take us out for a spin at more that 4 miles an hour, we headed off to Whichurch a very enjoyable trip through the Cheshire country side. again we arrived on a Sunday and found that Whitchurch was SHUT not even a cafe open we had lunch (a very medioca warm Tesco pie sat in the car in Tesco's car park " Oh how we laughed" only Hodges could find this funny.

At Tea time Thomas, Lorrasine and Mat arrived now that made six of us sleeping on Buggerlugs, I know we are all family but this is getting too cosy, but in true Hodgey style we managed, Mat Lorraine and Thomas in the bed room Maryanne Noreen, and I in the saloon with the two ladies deposited on the camp beds and brave me on the recliner, And yes we all had a good nights sleep. though at 6.30am the swans decided to clean the algae off the bottom of the boat making a horrible knocking noise.

We were moored at Salterford locks, the moorings are great but the road down to the lock is private and only for BW staff and residents but we had a word with lock keeper fed him some home made ginger nuts then he was putty in our hands and he gave us permission to put both cars in their car park, which made life so much easier.

Today we set off up the river and then up the Anderton lift back onto the canal it was a lovely sail with a bit of sun, after arriving at the top of the lift we decided to moor alongside the park and walk back to Salterford for the cars, It only took an hour and we all enjoyed the walk??????

Noreen and I are now again on our own and the boat seems very quiet and spacious

But not for long as they all return next weekend

keep Listening

Big Al

We are Off

2010-04-29T11:34:00.003+01:00

Hi Everyone

Well we are now well on our way to Oxford on this years jaunt. I have not really a lot to say so this time I thought I would just do a diary of the week’s events

Monday
Preparing the boat for the trip the weather was great so we set to and gave Buggerlugs a real good polish one thing I like is things to look “propa” and ship shape,
Les one of the handymen at the marina came over and helped me cut a hole in the floor under the bed we were then managed to take another 100 kg of ballast out with that go Noreen is able to another 100kg of clothes in the wardrobe? Went to see Thomas and finish the shopping, on the way back remembered just in time to nip to the doctors for a 5-month prescription, unfortunately the chemist did not have half the tablets so Noreen has to come back to Blackburn tomorrow.
Tuesday
Noreen off to Blackburn I stayed and stowed what I considered all the tools I would need on journey but as Roger will know you never stow the one you need. Noreen received an emergency call from school staying that there is to be an emergency Governors meeting tonight. She is calling in and casting her vote this afternoon
Noreen arrived back after lunch so I took the car to the back secure car park and prepared the car for a lay up
Wednesday
Today dawned with a wonderful sun rise and God save the Queen playing on the radio as today is the Queens Birthday. We hurried around the Marina saying our good byes and cast off Just as we passed the entrance we saw Chris & Jerry filling up with diesel, they shouted that they too were off to Manchester so we joined forces and left the marina in convoy playing God Save the Queen. We made our first stop over at Dean Lock just under the M6 motorway and had our fist G&T of the trip.
Thursday
We again awoke to a glorious sunrise all except Chris she has a problem with her pillow that is she has difficulty getting her head off it. The trip from Dean Lock to Leigh our second overnight stop was very uneventful though it was a glorious day and guess what I burnt my nose. In Leigh Andy and Sue visited us, Sue came to collect a bucket that I had painted for their new boat and Andy gave me a Fuel filter I suppose that was a fair swap? Jerry and Chris joined us for pre dinners so it turned into another impromptu “good do”
But no food
Friday
Yet! Another nice day and a very easy sail into the centre of Manchester as today is St George’s day we sailed into the basin at Castlefeilds with St George flags and butting bedecking the boat and Land of hope and Glory playing as loud as I could make it
( I do like to emphasise the point of my nationality) Friday evening Lal and Chis joined us, as we had to pass on here present, as she is, 40 soon (cannot believe it but so is Mat in June)

Saturday
We said good-bye to Jerry and Chris as they are staying in the northern metropolis for a few more days and we set off for Dads arrived about five and to our astonishment, he had booked a table at Decker’s very nice it was to
Sunday
Taxi to church and back with Dad, Now Dad was suppose to be coming with us for a few days however he has declined because the weather looks like breaking and he has a bad knee and it would mean him being confined to the boat, we were suppose to leave this afternoon however Mat Lorraine and Thomas have arrived so we are not going anywhere until tomorrow.

Right that is a week on Buggerlugs we are hoping that things will slow down a bit now and try to get some order into the routine.

Sorry no pics the download is too slow

Keep well
Keep smiling
Keep true

All our love
Buggerlugs

Ps
this is late being posted as it is now Thurs I have had trouble getting on line.

hope some more over the weekend from the River Weaver

Maryanne & Greggs Open Day

2010-04-20T17:03:00.007+01:00

To celebrate moving into the new house Maryanne and Gregg layed on a fantastic open day,

All the families came making about thirty in total. Maryanne took no chances with the weather and asked everyone who knew how to pray to pray for good weather and her prayers were answered, it started off a bit grey but after a few more hail Mary's the sun came out and it remained that way.

The food was fantastic with a around the world theme to it, With Mexican chilli, american Chocolate cake, Japanese Sushi, and good old Lancashire spud pie.

Everyone had a great time with lots of games and activities for the kids but by kids I meen everyone there under the age of 90. The cricket was somwhat over managed with rule changes with every over or under as the case maybe

Everyone had a great day and I wish to thank M&G for a great day

The new Place

Thomas over the Jumps

Maryanne trying to outrun the ball

Ella showing how the girls do it

Don't Ask

Good crowd

Parachute Game

Easter

2010-04-13T21:39:00.006+01:00

Fish sculpture Southport

Noreen and Elliot

Noreen Tom and Shirley

Tom on top of the Great Orm Llandudno

Hi All
Easter is over and everyone is back at work so now with the good weather we can concentrate on painting the boat,
We had lots of visitors over the holiday period, Elliot was here for a couple days we managed to make a set of rope ladders "for getting people out of the canal" he managed to chop a load of firewood, so in return we all had a day out in Southport it was a bit breezy but very invigorating along the pier. Then Thomas came like a tornado he has now learnt how to start the engine so I have to use the isolator when he is on board I swear if he could see over top he would have us down the canal before we could blink.
We also had a great day out the the other Thomas Noreen's dad we all went to Llandudno again a very nice day with wall to wall sunshine, we went up on top of the Great Orm were for the first time ever we were able to stand up without being blown away. We are now ready to finish it all off with a house warming open day at Maryanne.s on Sunday which I am sure will be a great occasion
Counting the days now to cast off keep watching the blog we may be passing your way very soon

Big Al

2010-04-05T20:10:00.005+01:00

Well Easter is over.

I really like Easter I like the idea of a new beginning a new start. Ours started with visiting Maryanne and Greg down in Wales which was very nice it is the first time we have seen the new house with furniture in, Though it is very big they have made it look very nice and cosy.

We had a job finding it because the sat nav finds the post code which is at least 4 miles away

and the lane Mayryanne lives on hasn't even got a name

Saturday was vigil Mass of course and then onto Sunday that was filled with Egg hunts laughing children and great food as was today just a continuation of the same but different location.

Today it was our turn and we managed again to fill the boat.

The weather must change soon as I have so much painting to do and time is running out, I don't want to go out on the water looking scruffy that would never do. I am quite fastidious about having a clean polished boat looking ship shape, though I have young Elliot here for a few days he has volunteered to do all the brasses and other polishing that will be a big help.

Egg and spoon Race

Thomas starting the race

Peace and Quiet at last

Hi

2010-03-14T20:45:00.008Z

Roger the Robin

Our winter mooring at Rufford

Frozen Over

Well the weather has at last started to improve ???? My brothers stay was uneventful even the fish decided to take a break and it all became very boring so we had a few hours of throwing insults at each other it has always broke the boredom on other uneventful fishing trips???

The Bl---- car is still causing problems we even had to hire one for today to go to church mind you when you live in Rufford and church is in Salford (don't ask) what else can you do ????

At last I have some pics ready from the big freeze and my new friend Roger the Robin

I have started my paintings for the new season; buying the pots and items to paint is the hard job but I have a few people on the task now so I should soon have plenty to paint. I was going to go legal this year and get a trading licence for the boat, but BW want 1700 pounds for a licence and last year I think I sold about 200 pounds worth so I decided to for get that. As I sell 80% to Marina's it doesn't matter but if anyone wants to commission me I a free until the end of April

I cannot wait to set off again we have, or I should say Noreen has decided to head down to Oxford and see what happens from there we have already met with other boaters who are doing the same so it should be a good trip we are all hoping to me up on the Weaver at the beginning of May or there abouts thank God for emails and mobiles at least we can stay in touch maybe I should organise a "video meeting" that way everyone would know what each was up to, Though I think just ambling along and seeing what turns up is better.

Speak soon

Big Al

General Chat

2010-03-06T21:15:00.004Z

Hi Folks

Well things aboard Buggerlugs are very boring at the moment general maintenance is to of the list the engine has had an overall even though its new it ran 850 hrs last year, now that the equivalent of a car averaging 25mph for 20,000 so it was well due a full service, my car which is rather purely goes in tomorrow for a transplant its having a new engine and MOT I wish there was a saint for MOTs I would light a candle tomorrow I cant afford anything else to go wrong this month.
The weather though cold has been wonderful having had all that sun it is nice to get back and enjoy being wrapped up on a whit frosty morning listening to the grass crunch beneath your feet, to see the tree's and bushes glisten in the early morning sun, I have lost my friend Herbie the Heron and gained Roger the Robin he is like me big, fat, cheeky and loves food. The marina here is beginning to fill up again a lot of boats left last year transferring over to the new marina at Scarisbrick. That left the marina quite empty but now its filling with new faces which is great.
Having nothing to do is leaving us time to catch up with old friends and visit Thomas our grandson as much as we can '

Due to hospital appointments we may not get away until the end of April now but we are laid back about it we were never going to be in a rush.
Sorry I have nothing exciting or funny to tell you, However our kid (my brother) comes tomorrow that always lends itself to either trouble or hilarity something is bound to happen????

Stay in touch

Big Al

Yes we are Back

2010-02-24T19:37:00.003Z

Hi everyone

Yes we are back from our trip to the Antipodes and what a fabulous trip it too. When you get over the hill, and have seen and done as many things in your life as I have, you tend to wonder if anything can excite you, fill you with awe, astound you, and give you that teenage WOW factor.
Well the trip did all of that, though maybe I am just that type of person who has never grown up and will always find excitement.
The people we met the places we visited, the sights we saw will always be implanted in our memory and in case we forget I have 1600 photo's to remind us.
the flight back was really uneventful except for my metal knee setting off every security alarm, Why cannot the security staff accept that I have a metal knee without me having to do a partial strip at every security check, why can't they give you a card after the first one, I think they get a perverse pleasure from watching people strip, yet after a while I quite enjoyed being the centre of attraction all I wanted was some music to really entertain the crowd. All went well until we reached Heathrow were the staff are trained in the art of pure ignorance, down right unhelpful, despicable rudeness, and the failure to understand the queens English. As our flight from heathrow to Manchester was internal we were told that we had excess baggage to pay, as I said we had not touched the bags since leaving Australia that was impossible, I was the informed that the first part of the journey was international and the second part was internal with a lower baggage weight allowance. now there is common sense for you change the limit in mid transit just to confuse every one. and how is it that there are more staff speak English at Vanuatu airport than Heathrow ???????????????
Being back on the boat is great the weather could have been better but who cares we are back and even at this time of year the marina is very pretty. We have just about become adjusted to the weather. I never thought I could be so cold returning from 39 degrees to minus 5 is a bit of a shock to the system especial the toilet seat at 3 in the morning, I had to take a heart tablet for the shock lol
We are now in the process of getting ourselves and the boat ready for starting this years boat journey which we hope to start the week after Easter. We are expecting to head down towards Oxford but we shall see what happens So if anyone wants to visit us at the marina you have a couple of months, and if you want to visit on route the now is the time to give us dates??????

I want to say thank you to all those who have emailed regarding the blog, its nice and encouraging to know its being read???????

Sorry no pics at the moment

Speak soon

Big Al

PS
Remember the comments section

Vanuatu

2010-02-03T22:12:00.009Z

Buying Lunch

Enjoying the View

Sunset

After a swim

The Market

The Pool

Vanuatu

We we arrived in Vanuatu or I should say Efate international Airport at 15.00hrs dead on time. The flight was without incident except for the landing which was I must say rather heavy as the chief steward said over the intercom, "Ladies and Gentlemen please remain in your seats whilst the pilot drags whats left of this plane to the terminal" I say international airport with tongue in cheek as the airport consists of one runway and a single building were the customs, immigration, baggage collection and duty free are all under one roof that is smaller that a football pitch . Now this typifies the island it is charming why do you need acres of glass and concrete to do the same job as a small, compact, friendly building with excellent service and smiling faces This airport could teach all the international ones I have been to a lesson, this theme of friendship mixed with a politeness that the west has long since lost. We found a taxi with no problem as taxi's world wide he hound us, having squeezed our luggage in the boot we then squeezed ourselves in the back We were lucky our cab seem to have everything it should have ie four wheels windows steering wheel which is more than can be said for some of the other vehicles awaiting unsuspecting passengers, Though sitting in the back I was soon to realise one thing it did not have Suspension! the back breaking wrench up my spine over every bump and believe me there were plenty of them was awful but not quite as worrying as the awful noise of the rear wheel scraping on the underside of the wheel arch and the smell of burning rubber. the journey to Magic Island Resort was about 20mins and was full of very interesting. But on arrival all fears were set aside we were promised a Island getaway ad that what we got. the place is so beautiful one cannot describe the clear blue water against a back drop of Palm trees, Banana plants, Paw paw, Limes trees I could go on but I would sound like Alan Titmarsh, Just to say it is Paradise.

We were met by Terry and Charmaine who live next door and run a Kayaking tour business but were looking after the place for the owners who were away in Aus. Terry and Charmaine were great and really made us feel welcome after A few hours I felt like a local, and looked like one. Our Next door neighbour Jim is a saxophonist but promises to keep it low in the early hours of the morning, as we were self catering and didn't think to get food before we left town. Dinner was going to be a problem until Jim our sax player from next door offered to drive us up the road to the restaurant and show us the high life??

The next morning broke with a glorious sun rise over a south Pacific blue sea, so even before Breakfast that didn't have because we needed to go shopping we were all in the sea snorkeling

The sea was a bit rough getting in and out wasn't easy but with true Brit Grit we managed it but not I will admit without a few cuts from the very sharp rocks however that was our own fault as we were warned not to attempt it in such conditions, but ah its our first day. As we had no transport we decided to get a bus I say bus I mean mini bus or rickety old plastic seated eight seater from 1990 Charmaine arranged it for us now there are two ways of doing it you wait by the road side and hail one and take your chance or you can hire one for as long as you need it, as we didn't know how long the shopping would take we decided on the second, our transport duly arrived, the driver was great telling us everything we wanted to know about the island and its people he speaks 4 languages the island language of Bislama, his own dialect, french and English.

He also explained the tribal system and how the whole place is still ran on a chieftain ruling though the British legal system is used for legal issues, I know that sound complicated but it works and the islands are at peace not just with the neighbours but also with themselves.

We first went to the Big shop a supper market NUMBAWAN translated means Number One. as most of the items on the shelf were in Bislama or french we took longer than we should have done over the shopping about two hours but, our driver was there waiting very patiently and it was very interesting, Mary had seen the local Market on the way in and asked the driver to take us there next, now not being frightened of a challenge we all piled into what can only be described as a big party the hustle and bustle of the place the piles of Bananas, Coconuts, Paw paw, grapefruit, Yams, Shell fish of some dubious origin, the shouts of laughter as we tried to discover what some of these beautiful looking fruits and Vegetables were and everyone being so nice.

If I write too much now I will have nothing to say when we get back next week just to say that the rest of the holiday was spent on a beautiful island with beautiful people were you felt safe.

The islanders still celebrate the joy of living, they still regard community life as sacrosanct no one is left on the periphery of society each one has a role to play and even now as the world is catching up with this idyllic island they still retain the values of the society they have had for hundreds if not thousands of years

Now I know that people who we met there will be reading this blog especial Terry, Charmaine and Jim I would like to thank them for making our stay so wonderful and especially Jim for keeping the noise down. and to everyone I say if you are looking for paradise a place so unspoilt you will think you have gone back in time (but still get Internet connection) go to Vanuatu. And know you sceptical buggers I am not on commission. It is a wonderful place

Back in Aus now until Saturday when we start our epic journey home

See you all next week

This is your overseas correspondent signing off for the last time

By for now

Big Al

Catch up

2010-01-23T06:20:00.006Z

Eating the big Emperor for diner

Great Aunty & Uncle

Some of the fairies

Even Bat Man takes Time out

Hi Everyone

Well it would appear that the big snow is over and normality has once again set in, well that's what the BBC tell now ifs its any different please let me know I need to know what I am coming back too???? I assume I will not need to travel back in my shorts and sandals.

This week we have taken things a bit easy the wad is getting thin and we have Vanuatu next week. We had a day out at Tumblegum again its such a nice place I had half a day on the boat with Keith were I managed to catch a Spangled Emperor ( Sweet Lip) plus quite a few other fish in fact we had a very good morning. Keith shown me the way they collect Yabbies which is a small prawn, it is done at low tide on the water line and involves pushing a large hand pump into the sand then pumping for dear live and spurting what is in the pump onto the sand whereby you collect the yabbies which hopefully you have extracted from there slumber. all was going well until I decided to step into one of the huge holes left behind from pumping, you guessed it ar-- over t-- into the water finishing up sat in two foot of water not only that we had another 3 hrs fishing I finished up rather chapped but that's another story.

Today we had a fairy party it was Pipers birthday last Tues so birthday party today to avoid the heat of the day they start at 09.00 as we were road crew we were up early and setting up by 07.45 see pics and you will see why the early start. It was fantastic party with lots of food and cakes. NO drinks ???

Its Australia day on Tues which apparently is a big day here national holiday people will take the

Monday off and make a long weekend of it ( lets make St Georges day very very special or even call it British day and if people don't like it then they can stay indoors for the day and watch bollwood films.) seriously though would it not be great if celebrated our national day like the rest of the world do.

So next week its off to Vanuatu in the south pacific Roger and I have been practicing "there is nothing like a dame" Noreen and Mary have been practicing "Balihi" we are all looking forward to the trip so avoiding Tsunamis, earth quakes, typhoons, deadly insect bites I should get one more blog off before we depart for Home.

Love to All

Big Al

this week

2010-01-15T00:22:00.011Z

Brisbane Sky Line Noreen with her Bird of Paradise

Piper and the Koala Veiw from Tumblegum

Tumblegum From the tree tops

Tree top walkway

This week has been a bit busy Monday we were off to O'Riley's which is the top of a mountain were there is a tree walk they have actually built a walk way through the tree canopy which is very beautiful with magnificent views, especially when you climb a 80ft tree to check the view (which we did) there is a lovely story about a plane crash on the mountain were O'riley set out to rescue and led two survivor's to safety there is a lot more to the story but you get the drift.

Tuesday we set off for a run out on our own first calling at Nadeen's shop to exchange my sunglasses that have broke I explained that I have only had them 4 years so they must be still under guarantee. Noreen and I then went to a place with the fantastic name of Tumblegum a very quiet Ausie back water with only one river fronted street with art galleries and very hippy Cafes I am sure that the cake I had was laced because I felt extremely happy after I ate it. our return journey was through some really pretty countryside I have no idea were it was because by this time all I new was that the coast was in the east and that was the direction I was traveling. we eventually finished up at a placed called Burleigh from there we new our way back.

Wednesday it was a family day out to another mountain, to the Brisbane Planetarium great day for Kids and people like me who think they are kids, the show that is put on is very enlightening my only criticism is that it was all about the southern hemisphere which meant nothing to me but all the same a fantastic show, the Planetarium is situated in the Botanical gardens which are

mind blowing I never new that there were so many different types of bamboo and the kids had a great time on the children's I spy trail. that day was rounded off with a visit to the top of the mountain which has a cafe (food again) and a number of viewing platform that offer panoramic views over the whole of Brisbane.

Thursday Noreen's Birthday see separate Blog

Friday is day off am all tuckered out.

Keep smiling folks according to the BBC World service the thaw is on its way

Big Al

2010-01-14T23:52:00.012Z

The new Friend "Bruce"

The Pre -Dinner Nibbles

The Food

The Laughs

The Fun

The Cake

The Sparkler Spectacular Spelling "Love"

The End with Noreen's Finale

Hi folks

Birthday Party on the Beach in January:

It started with Noreen waking up which is always a good start; it then became a very casual affair as befits someone of Noreen's age, breakfast of fresh fruits and decaffeinated Coffee on the balcony, whilst opening presents and cards and being introduced to her new friend Bruce. The rest of the day was spent playing games with Mitchel and eating which I may add has become a prominent feature of the holiday, (not playing with Mitchel but the eating)All this time Mary and Roger were busily preparing for the party which was to be held in true Ausie fashion on the beach, where else

The whole family came including Bruce Noreen's new Friend who she insists I get a visa for and bring him back to the UK (another bloody immigrant)

Now as I said earlier food and drink is a part of the Ausie culture maybe because they have so much of it, but the spread that was supplied could have fed an army and I should know, it took over two hrs of constant eating on my part to finish it off (well I was always told it was rude not to finish your food, and that's my excuse). This included the Birthday Cheese cake made by Nadine which I swear was over 4" high with about 1lb fresh fruit on top. The whole party started with shading ourselves from the sun and ended with us navigating back in the dark. We had to stay late to give the whole of Southport a Sparkler Spectacular, Which was to be the highlight of the evening, except for Noreen's speech????.

It was a fantastic one Noreen is not likely to forget and one that could only be done here in Ause so we thank everyone for a great day.

Speak soon

knackered Big Al

2010-01-10T04:13:00.008Z

Noreen and Mitch in First Class (naturally)

Piper Stoking up

Mark performing

Hi All

Well here we are again Sunday. It all started so well this morning up at 7.00am washed Showered breakfasted and out to church for 9.00 mass only to find that it was ending as we arrived, well they have changed the times for the Holiday period and not being regulars at the church we just read the mass times published outside, all I can say is that the intention was good.
Then it was back here for a long day watching others enjoy the sun, as Sundays here are a time for very quiet relaxation, like all resorts the coast is packed on Sundays so we just st on the balcony watching the comings and goings of the Boats and the People its very enjoyable and can be very funny. We have had a week of coming and going Friday we went to the railway Museum at Ipswich with Jane and the kids, great day out luckily coming from Manchester I had a good grounding in steam engines and was able to answer most of Mitchel's questions even ones like "with the difference in engine Torque and horse power what did I think would be the best for transporting coal wagons over great distances like Australia Steam or Diesel?" WHAT!

where do these kids get it from, But he was very impressed when I was the only one who could work the diesel train simulator I think I even impressed lots of other grandads. the Museum and grounds were really nice. I may have said this before the Aussie have very nice cenotaphs for both 1st and second wars they are beautifully kept with lots of polished brass and wonderful designs, there was one at the rail museum commemorating all the railway workers who fell in the first and second wars, and yesterday we went to see Mark playing a gig at the RSL Aussie equivalent of our British Legion again there was a wonderful memorial to those who had fallen in both wars and they are still adding to it today. very respectful of them.

I transgress as I was saying Sunday is a day of rest so I thought I would catch up with you all, I was listening to the BBC this morning the weather sounds awful and even more to come I now feel sorry for saying its great here no snow. I expect that the excitement of the snow as now well worn off, its OK for a couple of days but the novelty soon wears off.

I am not sure if my car will start when I get back Tom ha not been able to get out to run it but there is always the AA

So folks that's it not much news, I have to go back to watching these boaters moor up (not that I could do any better but its always comforting to see some other silly sod cock it up

Speak soon

Big Al

Hi

2010-01-06T21:04:00.008Z

One cheeky little Girl Piper

Moon light over the bay

Brewery & Cheese Farm

do not order Burger & Chips here

Ausi en Suite

Hi Folks

Well the Christmas decorations come down today 12 night the epiphany was yesterday and we had a 12 night party on the beach with Jane and the kids then back here for a Buffet tea, as the sun was not too hot it was a really enjoyable day. The weather over the past few days has been rather intense it is of course the rainy season so in between the heavy rain we have this very humid atmosphere were you become very wet. BUT its not snowing so I'm not complaining, I listen to the BBC world news on the radio at night and follow the weather on the Internet and of course I get updates from you lot, so I do understand just how bad its been or in fact is. Lets hope its all gone for when we return. It would seem that we have picked the right winter to come here. We are filling our days at the moment with days out in the local area when I say local that means within a 100 miles; that's local, all four of us are enjoying days out places like Tambourine Mountain were after waiting an hour for a burger and chips I actually complained demanded my money back and said that the service was worse than the UK ( something I thought wasn't possible) well it normally wouldn't have bothered me but Rogers had arrived and he had eaten his:! now that really pi---- me off and upset me, but it was for the good because just down the road we found a PIE SHOP that sold pies and mushy peas, I must say though the Pies here are good real meat but at 2.50 each they should be. Yesterday whilst swimming with the kids we were visited by a dolphin which caused great excitement as I think it only came in the bay to play nobody seem to bother it was just another dolphin, I on the other hand was running up and down the beach with camera at the ready trying to focus and snap a pic at something that only came up for 2 seconds at a time. I think people were more interested in the mad Pom running up and down the beach than the Dolphin. Today we are off, but yet know not where I am taking Roger to the station then off out. we have trips planned but not finalised yet But what we have got planned is a trip to Vanuatu ; now if your interested Vanuatu is a group off islands in the South Pacific nestling between the Pacific and the Coral sea we are off to Effi which is the capital Island, all this is to take place at the end of Jan which will give just three days back in Aus before our homeward journey. We have never been to the Pacific so its another name on the list. The place sounds very civilised and they say that the head hunters left years ago but I am sure that there will be a couple of stories in the trip. Not much fishing done in the past week though I did go off the Marina wall the other day and caught a Stripy Perch, and an eel plus a few crabs (no jokes please) Roger went out with Kieth on Monday and hooked into a Mantor Ray which they had to turn on the engine and chase to get line back only the anglers amongst you will understand the complexity of that?????

Keep wrapped up warm it will all be gone soon and all the little ones will be back in school with the snow being just be another memory ( that's all right for me its 8.00am and 72 here) Keep smiling folks

Speak soon

Big Al

New year Celebrations

2010-01-02T07:26:00.006Z

Brunch Evening Meal

Boat Launch Vici Notice the Net and the Flying Bear

Hi All

Yes the first Blog of 2010 and it starts with of course the New Year Celebrations. New years eve was full of comings and goings as the bay started to fill up with every type of craft $1 million boats to the simplest house boat all were packing themselves into the bay for a night of celebration. As Mary was hosting the family celebrations we were all put to task in preparing food and getting the place ready with balloons (thanks to Vici the hammock came in very useful look at the picture also notice the Flying Teddy guarding the balloons old friends are still with us) Streamers Party Games, and of course Champagne on ice, We started the evening at 6.00pm with a light tea of Fish Pie, this was just to get the kids in the mood for partying, then at 9.pm it was off to see the children's fire work display, This early firework display is a great Idea as the little kids who are not going to make midnight can experience the New Year atmosphere. Then it was back to the apartment for a curry which I had prepared earlier. As midnight arrived the whole bay was a lit by fireworks, distress flairs, and search lights, the air was alive with sirens, ships horns and the screams of excitement, being on the 15th floor we had a commanding view of the whole of the bay all the way down to Surfers Paradise which of course enabled us all to see a very wide variety of firework displays. it was a very special night.

New years day arrived with a better than normal hangover which was helped along with having children playing card games and leaping frogs, children certainly help the recovery process????

Food was organised for 11.00am which was a brunch an Aussie BBQ Brunch Steak, Sausage, Bacon, Tomato, Mushroom, Scrambled Egg, Fried Egg, Smoked Salmon, Fresh Fruit and the ever flowing Champagne. Mark and Nadene joined the family for Brunch which made it a real Family occasion, After brunch it was all down to the beach for an afternoon of Launching the new rubber dinghy and frolicking in the sun, Then us oldies ended up back at the apartment for a well earned rest (Without any more food)

So that was New Year Aussie style not very different from our own its just hotter. and more food unless Noreen is Cooking when everyone gets a carry out.

We are now back at playing the tourist today we went up Tambourine Mountain with lunch at the brewery and Cheese factory a very nice adult day with Aussie meat Pies, Dark Beer and runny cheese. for lunch Fillet Steak for dinner.

ON RETURN TO UK WE ARE ON A DIET??

Hope all your celebrations went as well as ours

Big Al